Sam Al-Hamdani

Cllr Sam Al-Hamdani – Saddleworth West and Lees Ward

 

MY WARD PRIORITIES

 

•                    Speeding and traffic issues

•                    Environmental health and waste

 

 

Trainingcompleted

·         Corporate parenting

·         Preventing hate by effectively challenging

·         Early help

·         Safeguarding

·         Barnardo’s – trauma-informed practice

·         A guide to recycling

·         Age discrimination

 

Work in thecommunity

 

•      Shadow cabinet member for Housing and Homelessness. Member of the cross-party environmental group, Oldham Music Service (Music Awards) and Oldham Economic Development Board at Oldham Council. Substitute member of the GMCA Overview and Scrutiny Committees. Substitute member of planning committee, performance and value for money committee, and traffic regulation order panel at Oldham Council.

•      Board member of Oldham Coliseum and Oldham Credit Union.

•      100% attendance at Oldham Council meetings.

•      Moved successful Council Motions on The Fair Game (Football Supporters Association and fan-led review proposals for football), future proofing properties from flooding, and a UK shared prosperity fund. Motions on Transparency International’s Permission Accomplished (better standards in planning), Greater Manchester Pension Fund divesting from fossil fuels, and an amendment to take Oldham out of the GMCA’s Places for Everyone scheme were voted down by the Labour group on the Council.

•      Questions asked to Full Council on the UK’s gender-based violence strategy – making misogyny a hate crime; the climate emergency – green homes grants for Oldham; electric vehicle charging; a COVID wellbeing hub; tap-in, tap-out pricing for public transport; disabled access to Greenfield train station; vaccination rates among ethnic minorities; and responding to the call for evidence on tackling violence against women and girls – among others.

•      Following the motion in 2020 on street harassment, Sam has been involved in a cross-party group to promote work against misogyny in schools, ensuring information is distributed to schools to improve education and response, and working on Council strategies to combat misogyny, domestic abuse, and violence against women and girls.

•      Other work directly addressed to the council has covered Equalities Objectives, which after much work were delivered in 2022; enforcement issues around cramped homes; getting Asset of Community Value status for Boundary Park; getting changes in the approach to recording GP waiting times to identify best practice; campaigning for a new health centre for Saddleworth; working to change the legislation to remove the requirement for three fatalities or injury accidents before safety measures are introduced; campaigning against changes to planning legislation that would allow more low-quality development in protected areas; developing cycling routes across the whole of Saddleworth; addressing the iOPS failure at GMP; and campaigning to change the Clean Air Zone and ensure businesses are protected from the need to improve air quality.

 

 

Harassment, CSE and domestic abuse

 

•      Following the development of a motion to support criminalisation of street harassment, Sam has been working with Plan UK and Our Streets Now to ensure that the law is changed, which most recently resulted in the Law Commission publishing advice to the government to criminalise street harassment. The motion on street harassment has been passed by Liberal Democrat groups on Councils across the country.

•      Following on from getting agreement for the Council to implement recommendations from the Independent Investigation in to Child Sexual Abuse, Sam has produced a series of briefings on the IICSA reports, and has agreed with the child services team a cross-agency programme to develop a programme to implement the findings from the independent investigation into CSE in Oldham and the IICSA reports.

•      Work with Cllr Mark Kenyon to identify funding gaps in child safeguarding from GMP, and campaigning to ensure fair funding.

•      Took training with the Quetzal Project in Leicester to identify best practice around abuse in isolated communities and to examine how this could be implemented in Oldham. Also took training through the LGA on UK wide best practice around harassment and how policy programmes can be implemented systemically across all council services.

 

 

Highways/works

 

•      Pothole repairs across the ward, including identifying extensive road issues in need of greater repair ahead of this year’s 2022–25 plan for resurfacing.

•      Working with highways to introduce a new junction layout at the junction of Huddersfield Road and Stamford Road, following two fatalities in the area.

•      Completion of a new 20mph limit on Den Lane in Springhead, and campaigning for improved road safety measures in locations including Rhodes Hill, Under Lane and Cooper Street.

•      Helping develop the School Streets scheme for schools in Medlock Way, which is complementing the LIF bid to deliver safety measures around the schools.

•      Addressing incomplete repairs and works in response to residents’ issues.

•      Identifying problematic off-roading and working with highways and the police to combat associated anti-social behaviour, and create a programme to prevent damaging green lane driving.

•      Worked with Councillor Kenyon to ensure the delivery of a programme of disabled parking spaces, following the agreement of new criteria for parking spaces, and confirmation of a budget for works.

 

 

Parks and public environment

 

•      Reporting and follow-up on fly-tipping at sites across the ward. In particular, identifying key tipping spots, most notably at Holts Lane, where CCTV has now been ordered, and Lane Head Road, with ongoing discussions on further work to combat fly tipping.

•      Providing a response on the Government consultation on fly tipping, particularly to introduce stronger measures to prosecute criminal commercial tipping.

•      Advice and support for residents on overhanging trees, including working with neighbours where trees are on private residence

•      Identifying Japanese Knotweed for treatment on private and public locations

•      Installation of new warning signs on dog fouling in multiple locations across the ward.

•      Supporting residents with missed waste collections, and ensuring supported collection is properly delivered.

 

 

Housing, planning and enforcement

 

•      Specific support for the campaign on Knowls Lane, where there are significant implications for local infrastructure, including transport, healthcare and education. In particular, responding to the current detailed planning application for the Knowls Lane development, and identifying issues with the rights of way applications in the vicinity of the development. Workign to ensure the development does not create traffic issues for neighbouring residents, and is accessible, future-proofed, and delivers improvements to the public space that it has not destroyed.

•      Supporting residents with applications to social housing.

•      Support for residents with issues around homelessness, and those in long term temporary accommodation.

•      Supporting residents to ensure their views are heard as part of the planning process.

•      Multiple support for residents on enforcement issues, including around conservations areas, health and safety during construction, breaches of planning conditions or restrictions.

 

 

Drainage and flooding issues

 

•      Specific support for residents with issues around drainage, particularly where there has been water ingress into individual houses. Helped residents to get funding for flood safety measures to be introduced in their homes where there was particularly notable flooding issues in winter 2021.

•      Identifying problems with system for identifying responsibility for flooding issues between owners, United Utilities, the Council, and the Environmental Agency to ensure the appropriate response can be taken. In particular, addressing long-term works such as at Station Lane in Grotton, and County End in Springhead.

 

 

Crime and antisocial behaviour

 

•      Liaison with the community safety officer and local police to identify specific locations for anti-social behaviour and get appropriate police involvement

•      Promoting Neighbourhood Watch activities, including identifying any crime hotspots and distributing targeted information on safety and recommendations from Neighbourhood Watch. Also supporting the new crime watch groups developed to cover Grotton, Springhead and Lees.

•      Working with Oldham Council to ensure correct follow up following vandalism and criminal damage to garages on Station Road in Grotton, and working with the police on associated anti-social behaviour.

•      Supporting residents to get correct follow up from police following reported crimes.

 

 

Other work

 

•      Support for the Squirrels After School club at Springhead Infants to ensure ongoing of pre- and after-school of childcare.

•      Working with Saddleworth School to ensure appropriate provision of school buses, particularly during the ongoing Cadent works that coincided with the start of the school year.

•      Working to support local businesses with grant and loan bids during further COVID restrictions.

 

 

LIF bids

 

•      Delivered two successful grant proposals for the Oldham LIF programme.

•      The first is for the introduction of safety measures around St Edwards and Hey with Zion schools. A bid of over £23,000 will deliver additional safety fencing around the schools, new measures to prevent cars driving on pavements, access protection markings to help prevent parking across driveways, and clearway areas to ensure better traffic flows. These have been developed in conjunction with the School Streets scheme which is aiming to cut traffic at key times in the new school year.

•      The second bid is for funding for direct building works to Springhead Community Centre, enabling it to continue providing community services.

 

 

Funded work

 

•      New street sign for parking at Springhead Cricket Club

•      Easter trip for residents at Old Mill House

•      Lees Park Growing Hub

•      VAS at Rhodes Hill

•      New Love where you live banners and fixings to be introduced across the ward

•      Grit bins (fill on request)

•      Support for Christmas Lights

•      Support the provision of district trees

•      Summer/winter planting

•      Repairs to bench at junction of Under Lane and Thornley Lane

 

It is not possible to record all casework here, in particular where there are issues around confidentiality. Some casework has been specifically excluded, and others included deliberately in summary to ensure privacy confidentiality is respected. Others have been included in summary to minimise the length of the report.

 

 

 

CONTACT ME

E: sam@samalhamdani.org.uk

T: 07378 637637

Twitter @samlibdem

Facebook www.facebook.com/samlibdem