Minutes:
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Sean Fielding, delivered his Second Annual Statement. The Leader reflected on the budget cuts, Brexit and the upcoming General Election. The Leader noted that strong, local leadership was essential. The Leader highlighted getting the basics right which included investing in services that would create a cleaner and safer Oldham, giving every child a great start and opportunities for every adult to get on. The Leader reflected on the ambition to create places that thrive by supporting town centres to be places to shop, have fun, work and deliver needed homes. The Leader highlighted the opportunities that devolution to Greater Manchester offered and ensure that Oldham’s voice was heard both in the city region and national stages.
The Leader highlighted progress made which included the investment in additional street cleaning capacity, new refuse vehicles and supporting communities hold clean-ups. The Council had been awarded a 4 out of 5 from Keep Britain Tidy. The Council had also won Best City in the North West in Bloom competition.
The Leader reflected on greater investment in roads, the £12 million commitment and the process to accommodate genuine local, democratic control over the highways improvement programme. The Leader also reflected on the cuts to the police, how the Council had stepped up and had run awareness campaigns on hate crime and child exploitation. The Leader also highlighted groups which supported the night-time economy which helped to reduce pressure on the NHS and police. The Leader also referred to the public space protection order to prevent fires on moors and open spaces. The Leader referred to the next phase of the landlord licensing scheme to make housing safer and reduce the potential for exploitation of the growing number of private renters by landlords.
The Leader reflected on education and skills and referred to the intention to expand the number of places at good and outstanding schools to ensure that every child had access to a great education and referenced several projects and developments. The developments would represent over 4,000 additional places for Oldham students. The Leader highlighted the improvement in school results. The Leader reflected that there was plenty of work to do on education, but that things were moving in the right direction.
The Leader referred to access to well paid jobs for young people and the skills to access them. The Leader highlighted that the Council was one of the founding signatories on the GM Good Employment Charter and had encouraged other large employers to take the same step. The authority had focused on spending more of the Council’s money with local businesses. The recent Get Oldham Working job fair had been attended by 1,200 people with 66 employers with job opportunities. This built on other opportunities that had been crated by the Get Oldham Working service.
The Leader highlighted the Oldham Sixth Form College and also Oldham College which had achieved a good rating from Ofsted and announcing plans for a new construction skills centre part-funded by the GMCA.
The Leader highlighted what was happening in Oldham Town Centre and the progress made since his last annual statement. This included the new vision for the town based on bringing homes, jobs and culture into the town centre. Individual projects highlighted included the new Heritage and Arts Centre, new supermarket and hotel at Mumps, plans for the Coliseum, Tommyfield Market and Egyptian Rooms and the night-time economy was well as investment from the private sector. The Leaders also highlighted Royton and Uppermill which were going from strength to strength as well as Shaw, Lees and Failsworth.
The Leader highlighted the Local Improvement Fund for district projects. The Leader also highlighted the Northern Roots project which married nature, education, leisure and business and the work to provide the environment, districts, homes, leisure and work opportunities for the next generation of successful residents to choose to stay or return to Oldham.
The Leader reflected on the role at Greater Manchester level and highlighted the benefits of ‘Our Pass’. The Leader highlighted the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and the call on the government to use updated figures to plan neighbourhoods now and in the future, the Clean Air Plan and work to develop softer relationships in Greater Manchester. The Leader highlighted that the Oldham Green New Deal would be brought forward, the Community Cohesion Strategy, investment in education and roads and funding for Children’s Services and youth activities. Engagement with residents would also grow. The challenges faced were significant. The Leader was proud of what had been achieved in the last twelve months and with the support of staff, partners and residents more could be achieved in the next twelve months.
RESOLVED that the content of the Leader’s Annual Statement be noted.