Agenda item

(time limit 30 mins)

At this point in the proceedings, the meeting was interrupted by a member of the public.  The Deputy Mayor, as Chair of the meeting, gave repeated warnings.

The meeting was adjourned at 19:52 and reconvened at 20:07.

The Leader of the Main Opposition, Councillor Sykes, raised the following two questions:

Question 1: Oldham’s Brexit Preparations

“Boris Johnson plans to take us out of the European Union and will implement his deal if he wins the General Election.  Oldham Borough has received and continues to receive thousands of pounds in EU funding.  We still wait for any clarity on the ‘Prosperity Fund’ which is supposed to replace all EU funding.  There is a real fear despite the promises that the ‘cake will be smaller’ and places like Oldham will lose out. The UK Government has also paid Oldham Council £315,000 for so called ‘Brexit Preparations’.  Our future is now less clear and more uncertain, so we must prepare and prepare for the worst.  Of the £315,000 of UK Brexit preparation money, Oldham Council has currently spent £35,000 in total.  £20,000 has gone on foodbanks and £15,000 making sure that European child nationals in care receive settled status before the deadline of 31^st of October.  So that leaves a rather substantial post of money £280,000 to be exact.  I am most interested to know what this Council has planned to do with the money.  I hope there are already measures in place, however, if there are no detailed plans, can I be advised what the timeframe for release of the funds and a spending plan be put forward.”

Councillor Fielding, Leader of the Council, responded that it was correct that the Council had received funding in aid of Brexit preparations and a further £105k was expected.  It was correct that £20k had been spent on foodbanks and a further £15k was spent to help child foreign nationals achieve settled status.  Unfortunately, due to the lack of detail around the type of Brexit expected, which had been put back to 31^st January 2020, it was thought more prudent not to draw up detailed plans until the position was known.

Question 2:  Progress 8 in Oldham Schools

“The relatively new accountability measure for Secondary Schools is called Progress 8.  Progress 8 tracks how pupils make progress from the end of Primary school to the final stages of High school. Schools used to be judged on performance, whereas now this measure is based on pupil progression.  Once again in Oldham, as with other education matters, our score is below the nation average.  Regrettably our Progress 8 score is also behind the national average.  What is even more concerning, is that four of our secondary schools fall into the well below average category.  To put this into perspective, those same four schools are in the bottom 12% of all schools, nationally.  This year, four out of 13 schools locally are well below average and five out of 13 are below average.  This is worse than last year; we have not improved; the direction of travel is in the wrong direction.  We are performing much worse than the national average, but also worse than our neighbours in Rochdale and Manchester.  Now credit where credit is due, Waterhead Academy, is the only school that shows improved performance, others are deteriorating.  We have seen an overhaul of the SEN provision locally after Oldham Borough received a damning report by OFSTED in 2018.  Despite this, Oldham Borough persistently fails to give the standards of results that parents and pupils want and expect.  How will your administration address this perpetual underperformance in our Secondary Schools?  The situation is getting worse and not better.  I am interested to know when the Labour Council will reverse the stagnation or decline in standards that have plagued our local education system since 2011.”

Councillor Fielding, Leader of the Council, referred to the information as set out earlier in the Annual Statement.  Education was a top priority.  The Council had invested £37m in new school facilities and in the expansion of good and outstanding schools to ensure young people had access to the quality of education deserved.  Many of the performance measures in education in Oldham were improving faster than the national average.  The Leader added that it was not fair to criticise the level of education in Oldham.  The Council was committed to improving education.  There was a set of talented officers who supported the schools and support was promoted between different establishments.  The Leader referred to the strong record on education, that investment would continue and was confident about improvements.

Councillor Sheldon, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group, asked a question related to the General Election, preparations for Brexit and advice being available.

Councillor Fielding, Leader of the Council responded that the Council was making preparations in readiness for Brexit.  Only a small amount of the funding from Government had been spent so far as referred to earlier.

The Mayor reminded the meeting that the Council had agreed that, following the Leaders’ allocated questions, questions would be taken in an order which reflected the political balance of the Council.

1.       Councillor Davis asked the following question:

          “Can the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills comment on the impact that cuts imposed by the Conservatives/Liberal Democratic Alliance and subsequent Tory governments have had on the Sure Start Service and whether he thinks that Labour’s proposed National Education Service would allow us to re-invest in this vital service for families?”

          Councillor Mushtaq, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills responded that education funding had been reduced since 2011 and a 2019 report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies stated that nationally, there had been a reduction in the number of children’s centres by up to 1,000 since the peak in 2010 and funding by two-thirds to £600m in 2017/19.  As well as the reductions, the Council had less funding due to government policies such as Free Schools.  The service proposed by the Labour party would join up a currently disjointed Education and Skills System.

2.       Councillor Hulme asked the following question:

          “Could I thank the Leader for attending a meeting of Saddleworth Parish Council to discuss how the Parish and Borough Councils can work more closely together? I think it is the view of members from all parties present that the meeting was constructive.  It was notable that the only party unrepresented was ‘Saddleworth First!’.  Does the Leader share my disappointment and surprise that members of a party whose very name suggests that they want to put the interests of Saddleworth First did exactly the opposite that evening by not even bothering to attend the meeting?”

          Councillor Fielding, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Economy and Enterprise expressed his surprise that ‘Saddleworth First’ had not attended the meeting.  The Leader added that the name of the party had also changed to ‘Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth’.  The Leader acknowledged that the Parish Council was made up of a majority of parties other than Labour.  The Leader reflected that a constructive relationship could be built upon as a result of the meeting. The Parish Council and Council could work together on issues such as planning and transport amongst others and that this would be positive for both the Parish Council and Council.

3.       Councillor Ibrahim asked the following question:

          “Could the Cabinet Member for Housing tell us how many families are currently living in temporary accommodation waiting for a new home, how this compares with this time last year and what action is needed to solve this housing crisis?”

          Councillor Roberts, Cabinet Member for Housing, responded that the figures were shocking and showed a marked increase in families in crisis in Oldham.  The temporary accommodation placement figures in Quarter 2 for 2018/19 was 67 households and Quarter 2 in 2019/20 was 148 households, over twice as many families which needed the stop gap.  The present figure was 146.  The actions required to address the issues would have to come from Central Government policy changes, as despite best efforts, the Council could not address the issues within the current policies and resources available.  Welfare policies needed to change, housing benefit no longer covered rents, the detrimental impact of Universal Credit; the benefit cap and two child benefit limit all needed to go.  The government promised reform of Section 21 no fault evictions – the major cause of homelessness – but nothing had changed.  Current housing policy delivered for the few, not the many.  A pledge in 2014 to deliver a Starter Homes Policy had not been honoured.  Oldham needed a Government to deliver a stand alone Housing Minister to tackle the housing crisis; one million genuinely affordable homes in 10 years; grant funding of £4bn for social homes; scrap the idea that 80% of market rent was affordable and rents pegged to incomes; end Right-to-Buy; ending rough sleeping in one term of office, new renter’s rights and First buy homes for young people costing no more than 1/3 of incomes. 

4.       Councillor Williamson asked a question related to primary school placements.  Councillor Williamson questioned that a number of years ago Shaw and Crompton Ward Councillors received a briefing and informed that if a family moved into the area there would not be a local primary school placement for them and Councillors asked for input to which schools were to be approached.  Councillor Williamson asked if primary school placements were still an issue in Shaw and Crompton and what progress had been made since that meeting to address that issue.

          Councillor Mushtaq, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, would ask for the information and respond back to Councillor Williamson.

5.       Councillor Judd asked the following question:

          “Oldham Council has declared a Climate Change Emergency and is bringing forward a comprehensive strategy to develop green Oldham and tackle climate change – could the Cabinet Member responsible please comment on how Labour’s Green New Deal will help the Council to achieve its objectives?”

          Councillor Jabbar, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services responded that in July of this year, the Council pledged to bring forward an “Oldham Green New Deal Strategy”, the first local authority in the country to do so, aiming to apply the principles of Labour’s national Green New Deal at a local level.  This strategy would aim to deliver against the Council’s environmental commitments whilst securing the benefits of action on climate change and the environment for Oldham residents and businesses, in terms of jobs, training, savings on energy bills and a higher quality of life.  Oldham could not achieve all this alone, however, and support from Central Government was essential.  The Labour Party’s Green New Deal Programme included proposals to:

·       Boost investment in renewable energy, potentially through a new regime of financial incentives.  This could support the Council’s ambition to build solar farms and develop community energy groups, helping to meet council decarbonisation targets for 2025 for the Council and 2030 for the Borough.

·       Support industries affected by the low carbon transition.  This could help Oldham’s businesses to ‘go green’ and become more competitive, protecting jobs and creating new high quality ones.

·       Support new forms of public and community ownership of low carbon infrastructure.  This could support the Council’s ambition to set up an Oldham Energy Company to keep the value of green energy, local and boosting community groups such as Oldham Community Power and Saddleworth Hydro.

6.       Councillor S. Bashforth asked the following question:

          Councillor Ali, Deputy Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods Services responded that the flood water was emanating from the adjacent Council owned land which was the route of a former railway line.  This former railway line was served by a drainage system which was now failing and causing water to surcharge onto the highway during periods of heavy rain.  The Council was currently undertaking emergency works which would help to alleviate the flooding at this location in the short to medium term, and a scheme was being progressed also to identify a long-term solution to resolve the problem.

7.       Councillor Shuttleworth asked the following question:

          Councillor Shah, Statutory Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Social Justice and Communities responded that the Council had no information on progress at this time.  Enquiries would be made to Greater Manchester Police as the owner of the building and an update would be provided when received.

8.       Councillor Harkness asked a question related to recent incidents in Dobcross.  Councillor Harkness thanked officers for their work following the incidents.  Councillor Harkness stated that the Cabinet Member would be aware of a motion that the Liberal Democrats had put forward around a lorry watch scheme.  Councillor Harkness asked if the Council would look into putting weight restrictions and signage in place in the area of Dobcross.  Councillor Harkness also advised that residents were petitioning for a 20-mph default speed limit.  The Liberal Democrats had proposed that Oldham join the ‘20’s Plenty’ campaign which would have assumed a borough wide 20 mph speed limit which was not taken up.  Councillor Harkness asked if this could be looked at again or at least look at introducing such a scheme for Dobcross.

          Councillor Ali, Deputy Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods Services, responded that he would look into the issue and respond to Councillor Harkness.

9.       Councillor Shuttleworth asked the following question:

          Councillor Ali, Deputy Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods Services, responded that the cost of winter gritting was entirely dependent upon what the winter months brought, but the best use of staff and resources was considered and actioned at all times, from purchasing salt in the summer months when the cost was significantly less expensive to very close monitoring of weather conditions to optimise available resources in the most cost effective way.  The primary aim was to keep the primary highway network free of ice and snow at all times as far as was reasonably possible to help ensure a safe journey for all commuters with efforts concentrated on areas that would benefit the most people.

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

RESOLVED that the questions and responses provided be noted.