Agenda item

(time limit 15 minutes)

The Mayor advised that the next item on the agenda was Public Question Time. Questions had been received from members of the public and would be taken in the order in which they had been received. Council was advised that if the questioner was not present, the question would be read out by the Mayor.

The following questions were submitted:

1.         Question received from Michael McLean via email:

            “How many miles of roads in Oldham have had the potholes fixed whilst the roads were quiet?”

            Councillor Brownridge, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Culture responded that generally filling potholes was just an interim measure pending investment to the highway network to resurfacing using a number of appropriate surfacing techniques.  The Council was currently as the start of the second financial year of the implementation of a Council funded £12m Highways Investment Programme over three years which aims to completely resurface and overlay existing surfacing to economically and effectively improve the overall condition of the highway network.  In terms of improvements, the overall condition had been measured:

·         Green condition – or highways not in need to any works, had imporved by 23% of the entire network form 36% to 59% - this equated to approximately 180 km of the network having improved;

·         Amber condition – or highways not needing work for 3 to 5 years had reduced significantly down to 21% of the network overall.

Roads maintained in the green or amber categories would need little or no subsequent pothole repairs for many years, if maintained in those categories using the appropriate resurfacing techniques.

2.         Question received from Charles Garrity via email:

            “I refer to the announcement of the proposed full council meeting for 17th June 2020 that contains a PDF document, this document itemises unanswered questions from the public.  Mr. Karl Bardsley asked what was the total sum that was borrowed to finance the Town Hall cinema project.

The reply given by the leader of the council Sean Fielding, that there was no money borrowed for the Town Hall conversion project appears to be untrue. At that time I read a press release that the financing of that project was as follows £10m was taken from Council reserves, a further large proportion of the cost was provided from the regeneration capital fund. The regeneration capital fund was mainly funded by prudential borrowing, (it is well documented in council minutes that regeneration capital relies heavily on prudential borrowing). The press statement also said that a further sum of over £5m was borrowed and this would be repaid by income generated from the project.

I would ask Cllr Fielding for the sake of clarity to openly substantiate his answer by giving an itemised statement of how and where the money came from for the project.”

            Councillor Fielding, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills reiterated the response that had been provided to the previous question.  The Council did not undertake any borrowing to support the conversion of the Old Town Hall to a cinema and restaurant complex.  Although the Council’s regeneration programme provided for the use of prudential borrowing, this did not necessarily lead to the Council taking on additional debt to finance particular projects.  In the case of the Old Town Hall project, the Council’s overall Treasury and Capital position at the time allowed for the scheme to be financed from cash-backed reserves rather than borrowed funds. 

3.         Question received from Ian Manners via email:

            “I would like to commend the hardworking employees of Oldham council for all the good work they have done for Oldham during the coronavirus pandemic.  The virus will have imposed an extra cost on the people of Oldham therefore, I ask how much does OMBC reckon dealing with coronavirus has cost local  council tax payers and how much of this expense has the Government undertaken to pay back to Oldham and when has it promised to pay it back?”

            Councillor Jabbar, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance and Green took the opportunity to record his thanks to staff in dealing with the response to the pandemic.  Councillor Jabbar responded that it was difficult to assess how much the coronavirus had cost the Council so far as it was a rapidly moving position.  However, an assessment of increased costs and lost income was undertaken during May.  This estimated that the extra financial pressures related to April and May were £7.8m of additional expenditure with a further pressure of £9.2m from lost income – a total of £17m.  This included some front-loaded costs that impacted right at the start of the financial year.  The current estimate over the full year, the extra cost and lost income would total £33.5m.  A further £9.6m of Council Tax and Business Rates losses would have a budgetary impact for 2021/22.  The Council had so far received £14.2m of Central Government to support these additional costs.  Further funding was expected   However it was now considered unlikely that Government funding would fully recompense the Council for all the extra spending and lost income.  The position was, of course, being closely monitored and updated as new information became available.

4.         Question received from Syed Maruf Ali via email:

            “Oldham Tax payers money was allocated to Blue Coat and Compton house School for expansion, so that residents of Oldham can access good/outstanding attainment School.   Can the Cabinet members responsible for education share with us what percentage of pupils from Blue Coat and Compton House attends from out of Oldham borough? (Year 7 to year 11)

What percentage of disadvantages/Free School meal and SEND students attends Blue Coat and Compton House School?  

We know that Poor white British children now come out of our schools with worse qualifications than equally poor children in any other major ethnic group. They do less homework and are more likely to miss school than other groups. We don’t know how much of the under performance is due to poor attitudes to school, a lack of work ethic or weak parenting. What is certain is that great schools make a significant difference in turning poor children’s education around. The problem of poor, white British under attainment is real and the gap between those children and their better off class mates starts in their earliest school years and then widens as they get older.

However we also know that the effect of attending an outstanding school is transformational for poor children because it doubles their chance of success at GCSE.  Do the cabinet members agree with me that more places should be allocated to poor white British children especially white British boys to Blue Coat and Compton House School? To improve the attainment of poor white British children in Oldham I believe the school should change their admission criteria to:

25% should be faith based reserved for practising Christian children.  All Christian denominations.

25% places should be reserved for children from the other 5 faiths represented in Oldham (Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish.

10% places allocated to Poor white British children

10% places allocated to white British boys

20% places allocated to pupils living within 2 miles radius of the school

10% places allocated to out of Oldham. 

            Councillor Shaid Mushtaq, Cabinet Member for Education responded that the percentage of pupils from outside of Oldham were 32% at Blue Coat and 27.6% at Crompton House.  Percentage of free schools meals were 5.1% at Blue Coat and 6.4% at Crompton House.  SEND was 5.9% at Blue Coat and Crompton House 4.5%.  With regard to the statement on Admissions as a Local Authority, the Council did not control the Admissions Policy of either school as they were academies.  Schools were required to review and consult on their admissions policies on a 7-year cycle and as a Local Authority the Council endeavoured to have input to ensure that the policies were fair and reflected local needs.

5.         Question received from Mick Harewood via email:

            “One of the most positive things, to have come out of the Covid19 crisis, is the response by our community, and the readiness for people to volunteer, to help their neighbours. It has highlighted the work that is being done by voluntary organisations, and their unpaid volunteers, not just during this crisis, but before the crisis, and on into the future. Can I ask, if the council could consider a way of acknowledging and rewarding their regular and long-term efforts, perhaps with some kind of awards event?”

            Councillor Arooj Shah, Statutory Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded the contribution of volunteers to community groups had been incredible and had been central to Oldham’s response.  Members from across the Chamber felt proud.  The Cabinet Member had written to many groups to say thank you on behalf of Oldham.  It would not stop there.  This week, as part of Small Charities Week, the Council wanted to join in the already scheduled Appreciation Day on Saturday to say thank-you, not only to the new volunteers and mutual aid organisations that focussed on supporting those affected by Coronavirus, but also the hundreds of voluntary organisations who had supported Oldham people for years.  This Saturday, leaders from across the health and local government system would be saying thank you to Oldham’s community, voluntary organisations and volunteers.  In the future, the Council would be looking to work with community partners to find a way to acknowledge and say thank-you for everything that had been done by the hundreds of people who had gotten residents through this tough time.  Traditionally the Council would look an awards ceremony but with social distancing and the sheer numbers involved, it would need to be approached differently, but there would be more days (virtual or physical) to recognise the people had done.  The Council wanted this culture of helping each other to remain part of life in Oldham.  In Oldham, people looked after each other.

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

RESOLVED that the questions and responses provided be noted.