Agenda item

The Leader of the Opposition raised the following three questions:

 

1.         Introduction of the National Living Wage

 

“In December 2013 the Liberal Democrat Group brought a motion to Council proposing that Oldham Council become a National Living Wage Employer by April 2014.

 

The Leader will doubtless recall that in response to the motion that he made a personal commitment to ensure that every employee of this authority would be paid at least the National Living Wage by April 2015.

 

During the last Council Budget Meeting the Leader rightly paid tribute to the hard work and commitment of our employees, but in becoming a National Living Wage employer, this authority will commit itself to rewarding them fairly for their efforts and we will also set an example for other progressive employers in this Borough to follow.

 

My first question to the Leader tonight is two-fold – can he confirm that his commitment to introduce the National Living Wage for all staff will be honoured from today?

 

And can he also confirm whether home care workers and staff employed by contractors engaged by this Council will also receive the National Living Wage?”

 

Councillor McMahon, Leader of the Council responded that from today Council staff were in receipt of the National Living Wage and tied into the Fair Employment Charter.  This gave the Council the credibility of getting its own house in order and extended to contractors as well as Oldham Care and Support.  More businesses would be asked to share the effort to make Oldham a fair and decent town.

 

2.  Renovation of Union Street West Footbridge

 

“I am pleased to see that the much-hated Manchester Street footbridge is now finally demolished. 

 

The Leader will recall that I made reference to the need to demolish this footbridge in a question to Council last year, but in my question I also referred to the dilapidated state of Union Street West Bridge which links the town centre and the Sixth Form College to Coppice. 

 

The £900,000 bridge was opened in 2000, but it has always been plagued with broken glass panels, caused by the natural movement and flexing of the structure as pedestrians use it.  Because of this the bridge is ‘tinned up’. 

 

This causes two problems  the metal barriers obscure vision, which has led to instances of vandalism and out-of-sight attacks on passers-by. 

 

It also crosses one of the main arterial roads in Oldham – the Oldham Way – it is an eyesore to the many motorists that daily pass by it.  Not the sort of gate way feature any of us would want I am sure?

 

I am sure the Leader will agree that the risk to the safety of residents and the less than favourable impression of Oldham created by the current condition of footbridge are both reasons to find a solution as soon as possible.

 

I was pleased to hear that the Department of Transport has recently awarded Oldham Council £3.16m to upgrade parts of the A62 and the Oldham Way, including carrying out vital structural repair works to the Oldham Way Bridge over Middleton Road.

 

Please can the Leader tell me tonight whether any of this money from the Department of Transport will be used by this Administration to fix the Union Street West Bridge as it too spans Oldham Way and if so when?

 

If not these funds from the Department of Transport what is being done to tack this eye sore? 

 

Councillor McMahon, Leader of the Council, responded that thanks to the intervention of ward councillors who have pressed the issue, he was able to inform that following intervention, work would start this summer on repairs to the bridge.

 

3.         E-on and Elected Members

 

At February’s Council, the Leader responded to a question from my colleague, Councillor Dave Murphy, about the strained relationship between E-on and Elected Members in Shaw and Crompton.

 

In his question, Councillor Murphy made specific reference to the fact that E-on had revised point-blank to send a representative in response to a specific invite to attend a meeting of the Shaw and Crompton District Partnership.

 

In the Leader’s response he rightly expressed his “disappointment” that relations had not improved despite this issue being raised on several occasions in this Chamber and promised to send a letter to both the Community Lighting Partnership and to E-on to “make it absolutely clear that Ward Members need to be taken seriously.”

 

Could a copy of this letter be shared with all Elected Members please?

 

Like Councillor Murphy and the Leader, I too am disappointed at the service received by residents and the responses received by their Councillors from E-on and the Community Lighting Partnership and I too want to see something done about it.

 

Members of the public concur with this view judging by the number of letters and emails we continue to receive from irate constituents.

 

This contract is costing the council tax payers of Oldham many millions of pounds and we have the right to expect more from the contractors so I am sure that Councillors and constituents alike will be keen to hear whether the promised letter has been sent and what if any the reply was.

 

Councillor McMahon, Leader of the Council, responded that the issues were part of a commercial contract, the matter was being taken seriously and suggested that a meeting be convened with officers and E-on to determine what action was being taken.

 

The Leader of the Conservative Group, Councillor Hudson, raised the following question: 

 

Councillor Hudson referred to and welcomed being a Cooperative Borough helping with police facilities, that this had been done in Failsworth and asked if other districts would have the same chance to help with police activities.

 

Councillor McMahon, Leader of the Council, responded “Yes”.

 

The Leader of the UKIP Group, Councillor Peter Klonowski referred to Bury Council moving to a waste collection every three week and asked if there were plans to do the same in Oldham.

 

Councillor McMahon, Leader of the Council, responded “No”.

 

Members raised the following questions:

 

Councillor Mushtaq to Councillor Hibbert:

 

1.            Councillor Mushtaq to Councillor Hibbert:

“A number of residents have raised the issue of potholes and the road works taking place around the borough. The issues are not in relation to the number of potholes or road works taking place rather the quality of the work being carried out.

The quality of the work or the materials is being questioned on the basis that once surfaces have been re-laid it’s not long before the same surfaces are showing signs of disrepair. Reference has been made to utility and other companies carrying out work and weakening road surfaces which consequently cause longer lasting damage that becomes apparent after a delayed period of time.

Can the relevant Cabinet member shed any light on these issues? Are we aware of the longevity of repairs carried out on our roads and the impact of other companies’ works on the structure of said roads?  Or is this simply the outcome of increased traffic on our roads juxtaposed with adverse weather conditions?”

 

Councillor Hibbert, Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Transport responded that currently throughout the Borough the second year of the Gateway/Corridor Programme to raise the quality of highways surfacing conditions on 9 key routs to the level that the 24 hour repair promise could be implemented continued.  This meant that in order to achieve the greatest possible benefit, a range of surfacing interventions had been utilised which included the micro-asphalting surface dressing technique which was evident on many of the corridors to maximise the ongoing residual life of the carriageway in the most cost effective manner.

 

The technique, when combined with other more traditional methods, such as full hot rolled asphalt resurfacing maximised the length of the highway that was being managed in a planned rather than reactive way, thus reducing the burden on revenue funds for these routes.  This would allow programmes of highways maintenance to be compiled over the next five years and beyond which actively predicted when those routes may require further intervention.  It would also allow the limited revenue funds available to be optimised elsewhere on necessary reactive maintenance in the borough using the very cost effective and efficient jet patcher technique for potholes and small patches, thus having a more positive impact on these routes as well within available revenue resources.

 

All highways maintenance work carried out was subject to full supervision and any defects were repaired by the same contractor at their cost as part of their contractual obligations prior to the final account being agreed and paid, this ensured quality according to the appropriate specification was achieved.

 

To ensure that utility companies reinstatements were managed, Unity Partnership Ltd, on behalf of the Council, currently carried out utilities inspections under the New Road and Street Works Act 1991.  100% of Oldham’s reinstatements were inspected, the statutory minimum was 10%, and for the past three years the Council had undergone an extensive programme of core testing which ensured material compliance.

 

During this period the Council had observed marked improvements to the quality of utility reinstatements from around 25% compliance in 2012 to over 60% compliance today.

 

 

2.         Councillor Iqbal to Councillor Brownridge

 

“Over the last few years we have seen a proliferation of re-cycle cloth banks popping up all over the town. It seems that these big metal containers are appearing suddenly overnight and people are using these as a rubbish dump.

Could the Cabinet Member please advise what the council's policy is and what the council is doing to get these cloth bank banks regulated so that they require consent from the Council and local residents before they are placed in location. Also could we put an onus on the collection company to take all the contents and not just dump wanted items.”

 

Councillor Brownridge, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood and Cooperatives, responded that when the Council found out about the banks, the policy was to contact the organisation who had left the bank and ask them to remove it in five working days or it would be removed.  If the bank had been left on the public highway the Council was able to deal with it, but not on private land.

 

3.   Councillor Haque to Councillor Akhtar

 

““Can the relevant Cabinet Member please inform Council what progress is being made on the introduction of a fast broadband connection for Oldham.”

 

Councillor Akhtar, Cabinet Member for Employment and Enterprise responded that having access to faster broadband speeds was becoming more essential for everyday living and was certainly essential if local businesses were to reach their full growth potential.  The Council had therefore invested £369,000 towards a Greater Manchester Broadband Programme which would ensure that 99.6% of the premises would have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017.  The programme was being delivered in 8 of the Greater Manchester authorities by BT and was in addition to the commercial expansion of superfast broadband planned by BT and other providers.

 

In addition, the Council had launched the broadband vouchers scheme in Oldham.  This scheme gave a grant of up to £3000 to a business to pay towards the costs of getting connected.  This would be available to all SME’s in the Borough.  Interested business should visit www.manchester.gov.uk/superconnected to register for the voucher scheme.  There was only a limited amount of funding available nationals and was on a first come first served basis and businesses were urged to take up the opportunity as soon as possible.

 

If residents and businesses wanted to see whether they already had superfast broadband or when it would be provided in the future, they should look at the Get Digital website, www.get-digital-faster.info

 

4.  Councillor Malik to Councillor Hibbert

 

“With fading white lines causing problems for motorists on our Streets and Roads, can the cabinet member please advise us what are the plans and how he intends to address the issues?” 

 

Councillor Hibbert, Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Transport, responded that the current maintenance budget set aside for road markings was limited to £45K per year and the budget was utilised as best as it could.  It was recognised that there was more to be done in this areas and as a result an additional £200K had been allocated to the budget this year.  Conditions of road markings throughout the borough were being assessed and an inspection of the whole principal road network had been completed which was 68 miles.  A condition rating had been assigned to the various roads.

 

In order to prioritise the £200K road markings with a below average condition would be prioritised.  In the fist instance, this would be the A roads which carried the largest volume of traffic in the borough.  This work had started and would continue over the coming weeks and would complement the 27 miles carriageway resurfacing work which had been carried out and where new road markings had been included.

 

5.  Councillor Williamson to Councillor Chadderton

 

“Any employee has the right to carry out their duties in a safe and non-threatening working environment. Regrettably a recent Freedom of Information Act request has revealed that this is not the case for staff in Oldham’s schools.

Incidents involving threats, intimidation, or verbal/physical attacks on staff in our schools have increased from 39 (involving pupils) and 6 (involving parents of pupils) in 2010/11 to 127 (involving pupils) and 4 (involving parents, including 1 incident of an intoxicated parent verbally abusing the Head-teacher) in 2013/14.

I am sure that the Cabinet Member will be as shocked as I was to hear these figures. Can I therefore please ask the Cabinet Member what is being done to instil good behaviour and discipline amongst pupils and to impress on parents what is expected of them when they come into school to reduce the number and severity of these incidents? And can I also please ask the Cabinet Member to inform Council if any successful criminal prosecutions have been brought to punish offenders, whether pupils or parents?”

 

Councillor Chadderton, Cabinet Member for Education, responded that any threats, intimidation or verbal/physical attacks on staff in our schools were unacceptable and the Council worked in various ways to support schools in both preventing and tackling such behaviour by pupils or parents.

 

Schools were able to warn and ban parents where necessary and the Council’s legal team had supported this where necessary.  Prosecutions were normally a matter for the police.

 

In partnership with the relevant trades unions and professional associations, officers were monitoring incidents and putting in actions as appropriate to address and prevent incidents of this nature.

 

6.  Councillor Murphy to Councillor Hibbert

“Regrettably I need to refer the Cabinet Member to the tragic accidents that took place at the Milnrow Road / Crompton Way crossing in Shaw.

Thankfully a sizable Council investment has now led to a much safer crossing, but a large determinant in deciding upon the right course of action was the number of accidents that had historically occurred at this ‘black spot’.

At that time, it appeared to me that a significant point of dispute between our officers and members of the public related to the fact that the number of accidents ‘on the record’ was significantly lower than the number of actual accidents cited as having taken place ‘off the record’.

According to the Transport for Greater Manchester website – and I quote – “Road accident data is collected by the Greater Manchester Police. The number of injury accidents not known to the Greater Manchester Police is not easily identified. It would seem reasonable to assume that all 'fatal' accidents are reported, but these represent only a small proportion of the total. However, the limited evidence available indicates that 'serious' and 'slight' accidents are under reported. It has been assumed historically that 20% and 35% respectively have not been reported”.

The website also reports that understandably “Accidents that do not become known to the police” are excluded, but for some reason so too are those that “only become known 30 days or longer after their occurrence” and that “deaths or injuries occurring on the public highway without a vehicle being involved are not classed as road traffic accidents”.

Given these facts would the Cabinet Member agree with me that under-recording of accidents is occurring? And will he please ask Council officers to undertake a review with colleagues in Greater Manchester Police to ensure that data relating to ALL accidents on the public highway are recorded so that future decisions on measures to reduce accidents can be based on an appraisal of the full facts?”

Councillor Hibbert, Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Transport, responded that in response to the terrible accident that had occurred, the Council had reacted quickly, convened a meeting with the leaders of the group leaders, worked closely with ward councillors and officers and the new facility was installed.

 

Road traffic safety reporting followed the national standards and set out in the Department for Transport statistics and it was not possible to change the process locally within Oldham or Greater Manchester.  Injury data was used by engineers to inform safety measures if there were appropriate levels of intervention identified as well as extensive speed and volume surveys at crash locations.  Councillor Hibbert committed to review the process, discuss with officers on responses which required better safety provision.

 

7.  Councillor Sedgwick to Councillor Shah

 

“Increasingly public services are accessed on-line, especially now the Council is promoting My Account.

Unfortunately in Oldham many residents still do not have the necessary skills to use computers and many are still unable to access a computer at home.

The Council has published details of where computers may be accessed across the borough for free on its website, but unfortunately these details can only be accessed on-line.

Great if you have the wherewithal, but not much use if you don’t have the skills to use a computer or a computer to use.

Can the Cabinet Member please tell me what support the Council is offering residents who are not computer literate so that they can access our on-line services?”

 

Councillor Arooj Shah, Deputy Cabinet Member for Policy and Communications, responded that a wide range of support services was offered to residents which included the promotion of online courses to get internet access, a series of events had been held, information had featured in the Borough Life publication as well as briefings for Councillor and staff in partner organisations.  The Council was doing a tremendous amount of work.

 

At this point in the meeting the Mayor advised that the time limit for this item had expired.

 

RESOLVED that the questions asked and responses provided be noted.