WEST OLDHAM AREA COMMITTEE

REPORT OF ASSISTANT CHIEF EXECUTIVE CORPORATE POLICY DIVISION

18th FEBRUARY 2004

••• PURPOSE OF REPORT o To seek Committee’s approval for the final West Oldham Area Plan.

••• BACKGROUND o Members have received previous reports detailing the Area Planning process and have had the opportunity to comment on the Plan during the drafting stages. o All the comments which have been made have been incorporated into the Plan where appropriate.

••• CONSULTATION o There has been extensive consultation during the process, including a number of presentations to Area Committees; area based consultation events; articles in the Oldhamer; a voluntary and community sector conference; linkages with the Urbed travelling roadshow; and Area Committee Sounding Boards. o Members are requested to note that the West Oldham Area Plan, although presented as a final draft for approval now, will continue to be worked on and will evolve over time as achievements are made and new priorities emerge. o A discussion paper will be presented at a future meeting to determine how such ongoing development can best be achieved.

••• TREASURER’S COMMENTS o There are no financial implications arising from this report.

••• LEGAL IMPLICATIONS o There are no legal implications arising from this report.

••• ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS o There will be environmental implications arising from the specific actions detailed within the Environment and Transportation sections of the plan.

••• COMMUNITY COHESION o The Area Plans form a significant part of Oldham’s Renewal Strategy, in which the pursuit of community cohesion is at the forefront.

7.2 Community Safety is a major feature of the Area Plans and a number of actions identified within the Plans will contribute to reducing Anti-Social Behaviour, crime and the fear of crime.

••• RECOMMENDATIONS o Members of the Committee are requested to approve the West Oldham Area Plan.

______Contact Officer: Jo Charlan, Policy Support Officer, Policy and External Funding, Corporate Policy Division, Chief Executive’s Department

Tel: 0161-911-3198 E.mail: [email protected]

West Oldham 2

WEST OLDHAM AREA PLAN

JANUARY 2004

West Oldham 3

CONTENTS PAGE Page FOREWORD 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION Why we need Area Plans

BUILDING COMMUNITY COHESION

HOW AREA PLANS FIT INTO OTHER STRATEGIES Oldham’s Community Strategy Vision and Values The Themes in the Community Strategy Thematic Strategies

THEMATIC BASED APPROACH TO REGENERATION AND RENEWAL

NEW WAYS OF ALLOCATING RESOURCES: NEW WAYS OF WORKING

ROLE OF AREA COMMITTEES AND LOCAL PEOPLE IN AREA

AREA PROFILE FOR WEST OLDHAM Description of the Area The People of West Oldham Key Drivers fo r the Area

CURRENT AREA REGENERATION INITIATIVES

THEMATIC CHAPTERS COVERING: - Community Cohesion In West Oldham Learning Children And Young People Housing Health And Social Care Community Safety Environment And Transportation Economy And Employment Voluntary Sector Arts, Culture And Leisure Oldham Town Centre COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

REVIEW AND MONITORING

APPENDICES Appendix 1: Membership of Oldham’s Local Strategic Partnership Appendix 2: Map Showing th e Boundaries of the Six Area Committees Appendix 3: Table 1: The People of West Oldham Table 2: Children and Young People in West Oldham Table 3: Housing in West Oldham Table 4: Health Statistics in West Oldham Table 5: Economic Performance in West Oldham Appendix 4: Map Showing Areas Covered by External Funding and Other Initiatives Appendix 5: Housing Stock Investment Plan for West Oldham Appendix 6: Facilities Provided by Libraries in the Borough Appendix 7: Index of Multiple Depriv ation

West Oldham 4

FOREWORD

This Area Plan is one of six Area Plans, one for each of the Borough’s Area Committees. Together they cover the whole of the Borough. They deal with a wide range of issues of importance to local people – including health, community safety, employment, housing, learning, community cohesion and the environment.

Area Planning has many purposes. It provides local people with opportunities to identify the needs of their area, and to suggest what needs to happen to take their area forward over the next 5 years. Very importantly, the six plans are part of the Boroughwide approach to regeneration and renewal to which the Local Strategic Partnership and the Council as a leading member of that Partnership are absolutely committed. We recognise that we must help people who are experiencing the impacts of deprivation, wherever they live in the Borough. These plans are helping us to identify the places, large and small, where action is needed. The Local Strategic Partnership’s “thematic strategies” covering issues such as the environment and community safety also help us to identify Boroughwide priorities. The two approaches - area based and issue based - go hand in hand.

Of course, these processes are never completed. This is just the start of Area Planning. Changes will be monitored, new needs identified, and the plans revised. By participating in the Area Planning process local people can play a vital part in shaping the future of their area and the Borough as a whole.

Councillor David Jones Gail Richards Leader, Oldham Council Chair, Oldham Local Strategic Partnership

AREA COMMITTEE CHAIR

I am delighted to present West Oldham Area Plan, which is a fundamental part of Oldham’s Renewal Strategy. This Area Plan takes into account what action is most needed and will be most effective on your street and in your neighbourhood.

West Oldham is by far the most deprived area in the Borough and the region. However, its geographic location, transport routes, town centre facilities, further educational institutions, civic facilities and presence of multicultural communities are wonderful assets, which makes it one of the best areas to live, work and play. This Area Plan builds upon these assets and opportunities whilst addressing key issues of physical, social and economic deprivation.

West Oldham 5 Exciting times lie ahead. Ongoing regeneration programmes, like SRB6 and New Deal for Communities, the declaration of the Housing Market Renewal Fund Pathfinder and the proposed Metrolink programme will all play a major role in the positive transformation of our area. Strategic co-ordination of all these and future development lies within this Area Plan.

We have worked closely with the Area Committee, local communities, the voluntary sector and organisations such as Oldham Council, Greater Manchester Police and Oldham Primary Care Trust to produce this Area Plan. We need your continuing support if we are to achieve all our aspirations and meet all our needs that are detailed in this Plan.

Councillor Fida Hussain, Chair, West Oldham Area Committee.

West Oldham 6

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Purpose of Area Plans

The purpose of this Area Plan is to help Area Committees and service providers such as the Council, Primary Care Trust, Police and voluntary organisations to work better with local people and with each other to improve the quality of life of residents and people working and visiting the Borough.

The Plans are helping us to develop a joint understanding about what is happening within neighbourhoods and to identify the particular needs or problems that need to be tackled. The Plans will be used to help service providers to target their resources better and to monitor whether this is making a difference at a local level.

Area Committees have responsibility for working with service providers to highlight issues that are of local concern. Local people are therefore being encouraged to talk to their Ward Councillors, Area Manager or attend Area Committee meetings to help make Area Planning work positively for local communities. See the Community Development chapter of this plan for a full list of suggestions for getting involved.

Area Plans will be reviewed and updated regularly, so comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Community Cohesion

These plans contain a lot of factual information about all of the six Area Committee areas including the strengths of the areas and an explanation of some of the problems faced by local communities. It is important that these plans are used to promote greater understanding between communities and to help dispel some of the myths, fears and resentments that arise from ignorance of each other.

The Area Covered By This Plan

West Oldham is made up of the wards of St. Paul’s, Coldhurst, Werneth and Alexandra. The area includes Hathershaw, Fitton Hill, Bardsley, Glodwick, Coppice, Freehold, Primrose Bank, St. Mary’s and part of Oldham Town Centre. There are major transport corridors passing through the area. The most notable are the A62 from Oldham to Manchester and Ashton Road, both are Quality Bus Corridors; and the railway, which will eventually become Metrolink.

West Oldham 7 The main employment opportunities are provided within the Town Centre and at employment zones adjacent to the Town Centre. There are also large public sector employers such as Oldham Council and the Royal Oldham Hospital. In view of the proximity to the Town Centre and its focus as the hub of transport networks, the area is well connected to other employment opportunities throughout the Borough and beyond, such as Hollinwood junction, Manchester City Centre and East Manchester. The area, as with the Borough as a whole, lacks large employment sites for development and there is a need to assemble additional key sites close to major transport corridors.

Many of the Borough’s central cultural and leisure facilities are located within Oldham Town Centre and thus lie within this area. These include Oldham Central Library, Gallery Oldham, Oldham Coliseum, Oldham Museum and Oldham Sports Centre. The development of Oldham’s Cultural Quarter began with Gallery Oldham and is to continue with the building of a Lifelong Learning Centre. There are also a range of local facilities such as the library at Fitton Hill, mobile Youth Buses, a total of 9 Link Learning Centres, various community centres including new facilities in Glodwick and Westwood, although there is a general need to improve the level of use of all facilities.

The area suffers from some of the worst levels of deprivation in the Borough and is therefore benefiting from a range of regeneration initiatives such as New Deal for Communities in Hathershaw and Fitton Hill, SRB6 in Coppice and Freehold and will soon benefit from Housing Market Renewal. Oldham Town Centre is currently benefiting from European Funding as an Economic Development Zone.

The People of West Oldham

The area has the highest population of all the areas (45,184) along with the highest proportion of under 16’s (29% of the West Oldham population). The wards are amongst the most deprived in England and together, have the highest proportion of children living in poverty in the Borough. The Sure Start initiative covers much of the northern part of this area in an effort to address some of the problems associated with child poverty. Other initiatives funded through the New Deal for Communities and SRB6 programmes are also playing a role.

A large number of people in West Oldham are experiencing the disadvantages of unemployment. Youth unemployment in the Area stands at a far higher rate than that of the Borough rate and the percentage of the population in employment is much lower than the Borough average.

Indicator Baseline Position

% of population aged 16-74 years who are Area Average 45.3% employed Source:GM Research/NOMIS, July 2003) Borough Average 59%

% of population aged 16-74 years who are Area Average 45.3% employed Source:GM Research/NOMIS, July 2003) Borough Average 59%

West Oldham 8 Youth Unemployment Rate (16-19 year olds) Area Average 13.1% Source:GM Research/NOMIS, July 2003) Borough Average 8.2%

The Government target around unemployment is that, over the three years to Spring 2006, the employment rates of disadvantaged areas and groups should be increased. These groups include lone parents, ethnic minorities, people over 50 and over, those with the lowest qualifications and those with disabilities. The area suffers from the highest early death rates in the Borough, with rates in Alexandra ward being significantly higher than other wards. Overall, West Oldham scores very badly against the national rank of health deprivation with people living in Alexandra ward experiencing amongst the worst health deprivation in the country.

Health Deprivation

National Rank of St Paul’s 853 Three of the wards are within the Health Deprivation Coldhurst 403 5% most health deprived wards Werneth 292 nationally and are three of the Alexandra 232 four worse most health deprived in the Borough.

The area is home to The Oldham College, the Oldham Sixth Form College, Oldham Business Management School and 5 secondary schools. These are Grange, Hathershaw Technical College, St. Augustine of Canterbury RC and the independent schools of Hulme Grammar Schools for boys and girls.

The Government target for the achievement of 5 or more GCSE’s (grades A*-C) is 38%. The Hulme Grammar Schools achieve very high rates of success, however, many of their pupils do not reside within the West Oldham area. The rates for young people living in West Oldham falls well below the national target and is the worst in the Borough at an average of 28%. Only St. Paul’s exceeds the national target with 41% of their young residents achieving 5 or more GCSE’s at grades A* –C.

Percentage of pupils that achieved 5 or more GCSEs (grade A*-C) by school. Year School 1999 2000 2001 2002 Grange School 15 19 23 33 Hathershaw Technology 34 31 27 31 College Hulme Grammar School 94 98 94 100 for Boys

West Oldham 9 Hulme Grammar School 99 100 100 99 for Girls St Augustine of 28 38 36 34 Canterbury RC

Borough Average 39.9 42.4 41.5 42.9 England Average 47.9 49.2 50.0 51.5

The area suffers from a very high incidence of crime in all categories compared to the rest of the Borough, although there have been significant reductions arising as a result of the recent policing and crime reduction schemes in Fitton Hill. Anti-social behaviour and drug related crime are significant and a range of drug related support projects operate within the area. An Alcohol Free Zone has been declared in Oldham Town Centre along with a Street Safe initiative in an effort to reduce the incidence of crime and anti-social behaviour, particularly at the weekend. There is no doubt that the incidence of crime, youth nuisance and anti-social behaviour is a significant barrier to the regeneration of this area.

The Government target is to reduce crime and the fear of crime by improving overall performance, including the gap between the highest Crime and Reduction Partnership areas and the best comparable areas and reduce:

• Vehicle crime by 30% from 1998-99 to 2004-02-02

• Domestic burglary by 25% from 1998-99 to 2005

• Robbery in the ten Street Crime Initiative areas by 14% from 1999 – 2000 to 2005 and maintain that level.

The Key Improvements that will be Taking Place

• Housing improvements • Health initiatives to reduce heart disease and smoking • Environmental improvements

• Development of Young People’s Strategy

• Development of employment opportunities

• Exploiting the potential of transport links

• Implementation of a Community Litter Plan

West Oldham 10

INTRODUCTION

WHY WE NEED AREA PLANS

This is the first time that Area Plans have been produced. There are six Plans, one for each of the six areas covered by the Area Committees. This Plan for West Oldham covers the wards of St Paul’s, Coldhurst, Werneth and Alexandra.

The purpose of the Plans is to provide a framework for each of the six areas to help us work with local people to decide how services need to be delivered and how best to achieve the regeneration and renewal of the whole of the Borough. These local plans will help us to identify needs wherever they occur in the Borough, to target our resources where we need to make the greatest impact and to identify what additional resources we need to secure from external sources.

These Area Plans, which look forward to the next 3-5 years, complement other documents such as Oldham’s Community Strategy, Lifelong Learning Strategy, Crime and Disorder Strategy, Health Improvement Plan and Oldham Agenda 21 Plan, which together guide Oldham’s approach to regeneration and renewal.

Area Committees are at the heart of the Area Plans and the West Oldham Area Committee has been closely involved in producing this Plan. The Plans include actions that will be delivered by a wide range of organisations and the Area Committee is working with partners such as the Police, Primary Care Trust, Council Departments, Connexions and voluntary sector organisations. The Area Committees will be responsible for monitoring the progress of the actions detailed in this Plan and for helping to identify how their area can improve.

As this is the first Area Plan produced for West Oldham, there are many references to the need to do more research and investigation into the best way of tackling some of the issues facing the area. The views of local people and their local knowledge of the area are invaluable and you may comment on the content of this Plan at any time by contacting the Area Manager for West Oldham.

Shashi Mohandas, West Oldham Area Manager, Chief Executive’s Department, Blue Room, Level 4, Civic Centre, West Street, OL1 1UG. 0161 911 5160 [email protected]

This plan has been produced by the Corporate Policy Division, Chief Executive’s Department, Oldham Council, on behalf of the Local Strategic Partnership.

West Oldham 11

BUILDING COMMUNITY COHESION

The disturbances in Oldham in 2001 and events in the months before and after made Oldham famous for all the wrong reasons. The Oldham Independent Review and other government reports into the events highlighted problems with community relations in Oldham and other northern towns. They identified a range of issues: • the physical and social segregation of different communities, with people living in different areas, going to separate schools and places of worship, working for different employers and scarcely coming into contact with each other, let alone forming friendships; • the growth of myths, fears and resentments which has resulted from people’s ignorance of each other, fuelled by the activities and propaganda of extremist groups; • the problems of deprivation and inequality – such as crime, unemployment, low incomes, poor health, a run down environment – which affect some sections of the community disproportionately and encourage resentments because others have opportunities which they do not.

Building community cohesion is concerned with tackling these problems and creating an Oldham in which different communities live and work confidently with each other, recognise and respect each other’s differences, but share a sense of belonging and common purpose.

A vision for young people in Oldham

“By working together, the young people of Oldham can create a bright future of mixed races, cultures, origins and religions. They can put their differences aside and create a better Oldham for the following generations to come. The people of Oldham can unite and become one regardless of their differences. Oldham can become one of the UK’s best areas.”

Mohammed Zohid Competition winner at Oldham Youth Together 2003

This is not just about issues of race. It is about creating communities in which all people are valued and respected – regardless of how old they are, whether they are disabled, women or men, or their income, faith, sexuality or race – and everyone feels safe and secure and enjoys a decent quality of life.

The Area Plans and the way in which they are being produced, are a central part of this. Each Plan identifies the problems and opportunities of a different part of Oldham and what

West Oldham 12 needs to be done to meet the needs identified. As a set, they reflect the diverse strengths and opportunities of the communities of Oldham, as well as the range of different needs.

Finding out about these strengths, opportunities and needs has included gathering lots of background information and, more importantly, asking many different people what they think. Voluntary, community and faith groups, in which many local people are active, have played a key role in this. Deciding priorities – both within West Oldham and across the Borough as a whole – has involved people meeting and working together, building up an understanding of each others’ different needs and building a collective vision of the future.

Building community cohesion also needs to be integral to how the Plan is delivered – for example by trying to achieve the biggest improvements where the problems are greatest, tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and doing things in ways which bring people together rather than create divisions between them.

West Oldham 13

HOW AREA PLANS FIT INTO OTHER STRATEGIES

OLDHAM’S COMMUNITY STRATEGY

Our Community Strategy, published in December 2002, focuses on tackling inequality across the Borough as a whole. At the heart of the Community Strategy is the objective of promoting greater cohesion within our diverse community. It is a document produced by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). It guides the work of all the organisations that are working across the whole Borough to achieve the social, economic and environmental well being of local people. These are the same organisations that are working together to deliver the Area Plans. In fact, the Area Plans could be considered to be “Area Community Strategies”.

Oldham’s Community Strategy includes a 20 year vision that is underpinned by a set of values and chapters that cover themes such as learning and community safety. Together, the six Area Plans will help service providers and decision-makers to work towards this single vision for the whole of the Borough. The Local Strategic Partnership is developing the vision even further by working with some internationally recognised consultants and a more ambitious vision for the Borough will be agreed by March 2004. The aim is to develop radical, transformational proposals, which will inform the future development of the Community Strategy and set the objectives for the regeneration of the Borough over the next 20 years.

OUR VISION

“We will realise our vision of Oldham, a Borough of well educated people who enjoy good quality employment in a healthy environment; a Borough which is a safe home for its people and welcoming to visitors; a thriving attractive Borough in the Pennine Hills; a Borough whose people are secure in their identity, share common values and enjoy equality of treatment; a Borough of racial, cultural and religious diversity, whose people live together in peace, respect and friendship.”

These are the values on which we will build a better future:

• we believe that everyone has rights and responsibilities • we believe in an inclusive and openly democratic Oldham • we believe in a good safe living environment for everyone – present and future • we believe in the worth of every person in Oldham • we believe in a multi-faith, multi-cultural and multi-racial society • we oppose all forms of unfair discrimination

West Oldham 14

THE THEMES IN THE OLDHAM COMMUNITY STRATEGY

The Strategy details actions that are required to progress a range of issues by grouping them together as themes:-

• Community Cohesion • Community Safety • Economy • Environment and Transportation • Health and Social Care • Housing • Learning • Voluntary Sector • Young People

The same themes are also used in this Plan, but we have added Arts, Culture and Leisure, the Town Centre and also expanded the theme of Young People to include children. This reflects developments that have been taking place within the Local Strategic Partnership.

THEMATIC STRATEGIES

Each of the themes is driven by a sub-partnership of the Local Strategic Partnership and each theme has its own detailed workplan or strategy, or is working towards a strategy. The Children and Young People’s Partnership, for instance, has only just been formed and is still developing its workplan. As the sub-partnerships are at different stages, the themes within this Area Plan contain different levels of detail.

A diagram showing the membership of the Local Strategic Partnership and details of the sub-partnerships can be found in Appendix I.

The information that we gather by developing, monitoring and reviewing the Area Plans with the involvement of local people, will be fed into the future reviews of Oldham’s Community Strategy. The process of Area Planning therefore plays a significant role in the Community Planning process.

West Oldham 15

THEMATIC BASED APPROACH TO REGENERATION AND RENEWAL

Oldham’s approach to regeneration is driven by the Community Strategy and by the various thematic strategies such as for Crime and Disorder, Lifelong Learning and Community Cohesion. The Area Plans will now form part of that approach too.

There is a thematic thread running through all of these Strategies and Plans and the Local Strategic Partnership is committed to taking a thematic approach to regeneration. This means that we aim to use our mainstream and external resources towards helping people who are in need wherever they live in the Borough.

This is currently made more difficult because, as a general rule, external funding, which helps us to provide and try out more innovative schemes, is allocated to specific geographic areas where there are concentrations of need such as poor health, high levels of crime, unemployment and poor housing. This focus upon areas suffering deprivation and decline is essential, but we also want to ensure that we tackle pockets of need elsewhere. People who are unemployed may need support irrespective of where they live, anti-social behaviour is unacceptable wherever it occurs and we all need access to quality open space and community facilities.

Our thematic approach will ensure that we achieve the Government’s vision for neighbourhood renewal that aims to:-

• Narrow the gap between the most deprived areas and the rest of England so that within 10-20 years no-one is seriously disadvantaged by where they live; and

• Help England’s poorest communities benefit from: economic prosperity and reduction in joblessness a safe and clean local environment that is free from crime high quality schools decent housing that is well managed better access to health services generating longer, healthier lives.

The Government has set a number of floor targets that will measure progress on the above issues and these are detailed for the Area in the appropriate thematic chapters of this Plan.

West Oldham 16 NEW WAYS OF ALLOCATING RESOURCES: NEW WAYS OF WORKING

Our thematic approach presents us with a major challenge. It is relatively easy to identify large areas of need and deprivation. We now need to discover and share information about smaller pockets of need and deprivation and we need to be clear about how the wide range of public resources is spent within each of the areas. This information will enable the Local Strategic Partnership to identify new ways of working by pooling resources and efforts in such a way that the delivery of services is improved. Facts and figures about the Borough will be available on a new Local Strategic Partnership website that will be regularly updated.

We also recognise the importance of making the most of underused resources in the Borough such as vacant land and buildings and, importantly, the talents and skills of local people.

Area Committee work programmes now also include, for the first time, the power to influence how certain Council services are provided in their area. The first services that are being influenced are street cleaning, youth services and community safety. This programme will be extended until Area Committees have influenced a total of 10 service areas provided by the Council. The Area Plans help to provide the Area Committees with some of the factual information they need to help them make their decisions. These service changes are included within this Plan.

Area Plans therefore herald new ways of working for public service providers and we expect the quality and focus of the actions contained in the Plans to improve year on year as we refine this thematic approach and gain more input from local people.

West Oldham 17 ROLE OF AREA COMMITTEES AND LOCAL PEOPLE IN AREA PLANNING

Area Committees have been closely involved in preparing this Plan for West Oldham. A number of local people, local organisations and Boroughwide organisations have contributed their ideas about the important issues that need to be addressed and about what needs to happen. However, the process does not stop with the production of the Plan.

This Plan will be used by West Oldham Area Committee to monitor what is going on in their area. There will be a regular programme of reporting on the different themes in this Plan at the Area Committee meetings. This will enable the Area Committee to ask questions, make suggestions and to influence the providers of public services.

The Police and the Council are represented at all Area Committee meetings. It is likely that other public service providers will attend periodically to report on progress. This will be advertised in advance.

This programme of monitoring will provide you with an opportunity to visit the Area Committee and find out how your area is progressing. You can ask questions and express your views. These discussions are recorded and the Area Manager will use this information when this Plan is reviewed. In this way, we can ensure a continuing process of local involvement.

Not everyone can, or wants to, attend Area Committee meetings. If you want to make a contribution or ask a question, there are lots of other ways of getting involved. The chapter later in this Plan entitled ‘Community Development’ makes lots of suggestions for other ways of influencing this Plan.

West Oldham 18

AREA PROFILE FOR WEST OLDHAM

DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA

The boundary of the Area Committee and each of the wards is illustrated in Appendix 2.

West Oldham lies centrally within the Borough and includes land to the south and to the west of Oldham Town Centre. The area includes a significant portion of the Town Centre, including the Civic Centre, the main shopping core, the Market, Oldham Sixth Form College and the Central Library.

Principal road routes within the area are the A62, which links the Town Centre to Manchester and the M60 motorway and the A627 which runs south to Ashton. The A62 acts as a bypass to the south of the Town Centre.

The Royal Oldham Hospital and Boundary Park are also located within West Oldham, in the north of the Area Committee area, close to the A627M.

West Oldham plays an important role as a source of employment for the Borough. Key employment areas include the Town Centre (including the retail core, the Civic Centre and other offices), the Hospital and Primary Employment Zones (PEZs) adjacent to the A62 and A627.

West Oldham contains major areas of open space along the Medlock Valley, close to the boundary with Tameside. The area also contains Alexandra and Werneth Parks.

The Manchester-Oldham-Rochdale railway runs through the area to the south of the Town Centre. This route is to be upgraded to Metrolink operation, which will improve access to Manchester City Centre, Kingsway, North Manchester Business Park and the wider conurbation.

Much of the area suffers significant levels of deprivation and is therefore eligible for a wide range of external funding programmes. These are detailed under “Current Regneration Initiatives”.

WARD BOUNDARY CHANGES

The Boundary Committee for England has recently undertaken a review of ward boundaries in Oldham. The final recommendations for ward boundary changes have now been agreed with the order paper going before Parliament on 22 January 2004 and the new ward boundaries being effective from the June 2004 elections. Some of the ward boundary changes have knock on effects on Area Committee boundaries. It is important to take into account the implications of the ward boundary changes when considering Area

West Oldham 19 Plans. Assuming that Area Committee boundaries are to follow the new ward boundaries, the following summarises the changes affecting Area Committee boundaries:

WEST OLDHAM

There will be a number of significant changes to ward boundaries in West Oldham Area Committee. The main change affecting the Area Committee boundary is that Alt and Holts will move out of the existing Lees ward and into the new Alexandra ward and therefore from Saddleworth and Lees to West Oldham. Another significant change is that the part of Glodwick currently in Alexandra will move to St Mary’s and therefore from West Oldham to East Oldham. A small part of the existing St Paul’s ward will also move into St Mary’s and therefore from West to East Oldham. In addition, part of the existing St Paul’s ward, an area including and around Garden Suburbs, will be transferring to Hollinwood ward and therefore from West Oldham to Failsworth and Hollinwood Area Committee. There are some minor changes to the boundary between Royton South and Coldhurst, affecting only a few properties, which therefore affect the boundary between Shaw and Royton and West Oldham Area Committees. The boundaries of the old St Paul’s ward have changed considerably and the ward has been remamed Medlock Vale.

THE PEOPLE OF WEST OLDHAM

Table 1, Appendix 3 provides general information about the people of West Oldham and illustrates that the population in all 4 wards experiences some of the highest levels of deprivation in the Borough. It is also the most ethnically diverse area and has the highest population of young people in the Borough.

KEY DRIVERS FOR THE AREA There are a number of issues and developments that are driving change within West Oldham.

Exploiting the potential to build upon and improve integration between various regeneration activities such as New Deal for Communities, SRB6 and Housing Market Renewal Fund. Tackling the high level of deprivation across the area, particularly unemployment and poor health.

Investing in the increasing young population by providing them with appropriate skills and opportunities and tackling problems caused by youth nuisance. Extensive construction work will demand construction skills and training targeted particularly at young people.

West Oldham 20 Building on the benefits of improved transport links . In addition to the recently opened M60 to the south of the area, a number of Metrolink stops are planned. There are potential development opportunities available adjacent to the stops.

Building upon the potential of the location between two significant economic drivers with the M60 Hollinwood Junction to the south and Oldham Town Centre to the north.

Transforming the housing conditions across the area. Initial attention will seek to address the lack of larger properties and surplus of obsolete terrace housing. The area has a growing young population that is altering the characteristics of the market demand. The strategy will need to address the deficiency in urban green space and the proximity of residential areas to inappropriate commercial uses.

KEY ISSUES Economic development • Although the area contains and has good access to a number of key employment locations, levels of unemployment and deprivation are high. A key issue will be to consider how more local residents can access employment opportunities (both physically via initiatives such as Metrolink and Quality Bus Corridors, and also in terms of education, training and recruitment). • How to attract/secure new investment and development schemes within the commercial areas to increase employment opportunities.

• Extensive site assembly and efficient marketing of key sites required along major transport corridors.

• How to encourage economic development when there is unavailability/shortage of sites.

Community assets/infrastucture • Addressing issues of community cohesion is a key priority, which will cut across all development and regeneration initiatives being undertaken. • How to encourage the more effective use of the variety of community facilities and services and improve the low involvement in community and voluntary activities.

• Good access to various sports and social clubs and Town Centre nightlife.

• Making the most of stable and diverse communities, the strong networks and infrastructures for community involvement and the centrally located voluntary organisations and advice centres.

• Addressing the lack of community facilities in certain parts of the area.

West Oldham 21

• Addressing general apathy and encouraging all sections of the community to become more involved in the future of the area.

• Strengthening community capacity in parts of the area and supporting existing and externally funded networks in other areas.

• Exploiting the multicultural composition of communities to work towards community cohesion.

• Tackling high levels of deprivation including tackling anti-social behaviour.

• Improving community facilities and services.

Children and young people

• Recognise young people as potential for the future; part of the solution not just the cause of problems.

• Engaging young people in decisions affecting the future of the area.

• There are very few facilities for young people in the area - increase educational and training opportunities and recreational facilities.

• Recognising that the area has the highest proportion of young people in Oldham and therefore their needs should be prioritised.

• High level of child poverty must be addressed.

Learning

• Low levels of attainment amongst children and young people living in the area.

• Need to work with all age groups to raise aspirations and awareness of Lifelong Learning opportunities to improve educational attainment and enable everyone to fulfil their potential.

• Use of community venues for accessing education/learning services locally.

• Increasing out of school initiatives, for example, homework clubs and so on.

• State of the art school building at Fitton Hill and improvements to existing schools.

West Oldham 22 Health

• A large proportion of the population suffer very poor health and the lowest life expectancy in the Borough

• Poor health impacts upon the ability to work and the number of people unable to work due to poor health is very high

• Drug abuse is a major issue in the area, both for the health of the users and the impact on the community.

Community Safety

• Problems associated with anti-social behaviour

• Drug abuse and drug dealing

• Very high rate of burglaries in some parts of the area

West Oldham 23

CURRENT AREA REGENERATION INITIATIVES

A range of existing regeneration programmes is currently underway in the area. These are outlined below.

Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) - SRB6 “Routes to Renaissance” covers Werneth. A spatial masterplan has been prepared for the SRB6 area and further detailed work has been undertaken for Coppice and Freehold.

Housing Market Renewal Fund (HMRF) – Almost the whole of West Oldham is covered by the Housing Market Renewal Fund. This funding offers the opportunity to radically improve housing conditions across a range of neighbourhoods.

New Deal for Communities (NDC) - There is a New Deal for Communities area based in the Hathershaw and Fitton Hill area. Spatial planning and public consultation work has been undertaken as part of the NDC initiative to identify opportunities to regenerate the area.

Economic Development Zone (EDZ) – An area of West Oldham which extends into the Town Centre is identified as an Economic Development Zone, which is supported via ERDF Objective 2.

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - The whole of West Oldham is eligible for ERDF support, which can contribute towards the development of employment opportunities. In particular this will seek:

to encourage development in key growth sectors,

to support training and employment opportunities and

to invest in physical infrastructure, which will in itself encourage development.

SureStart - Much of the northern part of the West Oldham area lies within a SureStart zone.

Fitton Hill Stock Transfer - £25 million is available through to 2009 as a result of the Stock Transfer.

Fitton Hill Replacement School - £2.5 million is available to fund the development of a replacement school by 2005.

Library and Lifelong Learning Centres - £20 million is available to develop a library and Lifelong Learning Centre. It will serve the whole Borough and be located close to Gallery Oldham in the West Oldham area.

West Oldham 24

The following Boroughwide initiatives may also contribute to the regeneration of West Oldham.

Secondary Schools Private Finance Initiative (PFI) - £60 million is available for investment in secondary schools across the Borough.

Children’s Fund – This initiative is targeted at 5 – 13 year olds and operates Boroughwide.

Welfare to Work Plus – This project is funded under SRB4 and is available Boroughwide. The project runs through to 2003/2004.

Excellence in Cities - £4 million is available for investment in secondary schools across the Borough.

14 – 19 Pathfinder - £500k is available for the period to 2006.

Sheltered Housing Private Finance Initiative (PFI) - £8 million is available Boroughwide for the period to 2009.

Playing for Success - £100,000 to 2006 Boroughwide for Key Stage 2 and 3.

Children’s Centres - £4 million is available over two years to support initiatives for 0-5 year olds and their families. Funding is targeted at the eleven disadvantaged wards in the Borough and will primarily be available to support the development of Children’s Centre’s in St. James’, Lees, Waterhead, Chadderton South and Failsworth West. Further work will build upon existing initiatives which are currently underway in the NDC and Sure Start local programmes.

New Opportunities Fund 3 - £3.2 million over two years to support the Castleshaw Centre, Radclyffe and Hathershaw schools.

Healthy Living Centres – This initiative covers the whole Borough and runs through to 2008.

Neighbourhood Renewal Fund – Half of the overall NRF budget is allocated for Boroughwide projects. An additional allocation has been made for 2004/05 and 2005/06.

Provision of Primary Care Health Facilities – A Boroughwide budget of £56 million is available for investment in healthcare facilities between 2004 and 2009.

First Choice Homes Housing and Environmental Improvement Programme - £72 million is available for investment on Local Authority Housing Estates Borough-wide, managed through First Choice Homes Oldham. Estates and areas for improvement to be implemented over the next four years have been identified.

West Oldham 25 New Opportunities Fund (NOF) – £1.147 million of National Lottery funding is available through the “Fair Share”, “Transforming Your Space” programme. Priority is given to locally based, community led environmental projects, including several in West Oldham

A map showing the areas covered by external funding and other initiatives can be found in Appendix 4

West Oldham 26 THEMATIC CHAPTERS

The following thematic chapters contain comments from members of the public. Some of the opinions will differ, at times be contradictory and will often depend upon an individual’s perception, past experience or the neighbourhood within which they live. The LSP does not necessarily endorse these comments, but has published them to indicate the expressed views of local people.

COMMUNITY COHESION

Building community cohesion is a central theme within Oldham’s Community Strategy. The vision for the Borough includes that it should be a place where:

“people are secure in their identity, share common values and enjoy equality of treatment; a borough of racial, cultural and religious diversity whose people live together in peace and respect.”

To achieve this we will: • actively remove barriers that separate communities and support the development of an integrated society, in which people from different social and cultural backgrounds choose to live, work, study and enjoy life together. • ensure that an integrated Oldham, which cannot be imposed or engineered, is seen as the best choice for Oldham by all its people. • oppose those who, for political, religious or other reasons, seek to undermine an integrated society; who undermine the safety or well-being of others; who seek to divide neighbourhoods, scapegoat other communities or who discriminate unfairly against other people. • enable people to participate in community life and support them in improving the quality of life in their neighbourhoods - for example, by reducing crime and improving the local environment; • tackle the inequalities that exist and create a society which is fairer for all; we will support those who work for equality of opportunity, freedom of choice and shared responsibility for improving the quality of our common life; • be positive about all the neighbourhoods of the Borough, promoting the rich diversity of Oldham’s communities as an asset.

West Oldham 27

CHALLENGES TO COMMUNITY COHESION

Challenges to community cohesion in West Oldham are: • Ethnic segregation - West Oldham is the most ethnically diverse part of the Borough, with 44% of people from Black and Minority Ethnic Groups (including 20% of the population who are of Pakistani/Kashmiri ethnic origin and 18% who are of Bangladeshi ethnic origin). This is a substantial increase since 1991, when 28% of people were of minority ethnic origin. However, within this overall diversity, much of West Oldham is highly segregated. For example, on average, people from Black & Minority Ethnic groups live in neighbourhoods where almost 70% of people are also from ethnic minorities. Westwood, Glodwick and Freehold are all examples of this. In other areas, such as Fitton Hill and Primrose Bank, the population are predominantly White. This residential segregation is reflected in the composition of pupils at primary schools in the area. • Deprivation – Parts of the area experience high levels of deprivation. At a ward level, Coldhurst, Werneth and Alexandra wards all rank among the most deprived 1% of wards in England on the Government’s Indices of Deprivation. St. Paul’s ward is just outside the most deprived 10% of wards nationally. Child poverty and poor quality housing are particularly acute problems in the area. Low income and other forms of deprivation prevent people from fully participating in community life, fuel resentments between the communities of Oldham, and reduce people’s confidence in organisations delivering local services. • Problems of crime and disorder – Crime and fear of crime have a major impact upon people’s quality of life and West Oldham’s rates of crime and disorder are above the Borough average. Although the number of racist crimes and incidents in Oldham has fallen since 2001, a disproportionate number of those that do occur are in West Oldham, partly reflecting the composition of the area which means that this is the part of Oldham where people from different ethnic groups are most likely to come into contact with each other. Asylum seekers living in the area are sometimes victims of these. Parts of the area suffer disproportionately high rates of domestic burglary. • Tensions between younger and older people – Every part of Oldham experiences tensions between younger and older people. There are a number of neighbourhoods where there have been problems of criminal and anti-social behaviour associated with young people. Often the presence of groups of young people is perceived as threatening or a nuisance by older people, even though they may not actually be doing anything wrong. This is a particular issue in West Oldham because it has such a large proportion of young people in the population and because of the need for a wider range of facilities for young people in the area.

West Oldham 28 • Residential stability – In some parts of West Oldham, such as Werneth and Freehold, there are large numbers of vacant properties, the condition of many properties is very poor and house prices are falling or static. This reflects the relatively low demand for housing in these areas and high turnover of tenants in private rented housing. Empty properties detract from the appearance of the area and, in areas where many people do not stay very long, it is harder to develop a strong sense of community.

• Community infrastructure – A key aspect of community cohesion is the support that members of the community provide for each other and linked to this is involvement in voluntary and community groups. In some parts of the area there are very low levels of voluntary and community activity, whereas in others there are a wide range of community groups, but a tendency for members of these groups to divert their energies into factional disputes rather than working together for the benefit of the community.

What Local People Say:

The Community Cohesion Partnership are producing a set of measures of community cohesion for each part of the Borough. This will draw heavily upon results from the Council’s Citizens Panel, but the results of this will not be available until December 2004. However, some information is available from a recent MORI survey of all households in Oldham and Rochdale. This found that: • Residents of West Oldham were, on average, less satisfied than all people in Oldham with their neighbourhood as a place to live. Only 22% thought their area was above average compared to other parts of Oldham and Rochdale (as compared with 46% of all people in Oldham) and 22% were very or fairly dissatisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live (compared with 12% in Oldham as a whole); • Despite the diversity of the population in West Oldham, only around four out of ten (42%) people agreed that their neighbourhood is a place where people from different backgrounds and communities can live together, though this is the highest percentage of any area committee area and higher than the percentage for Oldham as a whole (32%); • Despite the range of consultation activity in progress on a range of important issues, almost half of the residents of West Oldham (47%) believe that organisations providing public services are not interested in listening to their views about the neighbourhood; • Although most people felt safe in their neighbourhood, a higher proportion of people in West Oldham than in Oldham as a whole were dissatisfied with how safe their neighbourhood feels (32% as compared with 21% in Oldham as a whole).

West Oldham 29 What Will Take the Area Forward:

Building community cohesion needs to be integral to every aspect of how the Area Plan is delivered rather than being something which is done in addition. For example: • Enabling people to have their say in the decisions that affect their area, for example, through forums such as the West Oldham Area Committee and more detailed consultation on plans for their neighbourhood, such as through Housing Market Renewal; • Supporting and strengthening community groups to enable people to be active in their communities and support each other, for example by providing training, grants or other resources. The Borough-wide development of an Area Community Empowerment Strategy (ACES), which will provide some support in each area committee area for involving local people, will contribute to this; • Housing redevelopment (such as is planned for Freehold) should seek to provide a mix of different types of housing (e.g. for sale or to rent and properties of different sizes), which will help to create more communities which are more ethnically and socially mixed; • Schools can provide opportunities for pupils to mix and form friendships with children from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds, both through activities in existing schools (such as through the primary schools linking project) and by locating new schools in places which will encourage more mixed intakes. The proposals to build new secondary schools under the Government’s Private Finance Initiative is a major opportunity to do this; • Tackling local crime problems which impact on the quality of people’s lives, for example, anti-social behaviour, racial harassment, burglary and drug dealing; • Improving access for young people to sports and leisure facilities and activities which are accessible at a range of times including evenings and weekends. This could include more effective promotion and publicity of existing services; • Improving the maintenance of public spaces, since a poorly maintained physical environment contributes to giving areas a poor reputation and makes them feel less safe. Involving the community has a part to play in this, since many problems - litter, graffiti, dog fouling and vandalism – result from the behaviour of individuals; • Development of a programme of arts and cultural activities – festivals, exhibitions, music, arts and social events - which celebrate all the communities of Oldham and provide opportunities for people to find out about different cultural traditions, meet people who are different to them, have fun and build local pride.

West Oldham 30

LEARNING

Learning is a Priority for Action theme in Oldham’s Community Strategy. The strategy states:

“The Oldham Local Learning Partnership will ensure that everyone, no matter what their age, has access to the highest possible standard of education and training. We aim to provide coherent, comprehensive and relevant learning opportunities to promote lifelong learning, enhance the quality of life and also contribute to the social, economic and cultural growth of Oldham to ensure community cohesion.”

To help achieve this vision the overall aim of the Community Strategy with regard to learning is to increase the skills base to ensure the sustainability of a higher skills and wage economy.

What Is Good About the Area:

The learning opportunities available to the residents of West Oldham include:

• Oldham Sixth Form College • The Oldham College • The Oldham Business Management School • Oldham Library • Fitton Hill Library

There are 5 secondary schools – Grange, Hathershaw Technical College, St Augustine of Canterbury RC and Hulme Grammer Schools for Boys and for Girls.

Link Learning Centres : In West Oldham there are ten state of the art Learning Centres located throughout the area, which provide free access to the Internet and IT equipment, as well as supported learning activities to members of the public.

The Lifelong Learning Service works with the Local Learning Partnership to provide education and training for individuals and communities. Through its specific mission, the service seeks to create opportunities and reduce barriers, enabling adults to study and learn. It positively works to provide local lifelong learning opportunities to enable all learners to improve their confidence, develop knowledge, skills and creativity and to realise their potential.

The service consults its communities, learners and partners to ensure that it responds to changing local needs and demands, while continuously improving the quality of its

West Oldham 31 provision. As part of the consultation process, the service undertakes an annual consultation exercise with key partners and stakeholders in the West Oldham area to gain feedback on the current curriculum portfolio and to inform the needs analysis which underpins future planning.

The service’s approach to adult and community learning places emphasis on learning in community settings. Consequently, it operates from 14 dedicated Lifelong Learning Centres throughout the Borough and around 70 Satellite Centres. In 2002-2003 the service had around 13,000 enrolments across the Borough.

Statistics:

Government target – between 2002 and 2006 the proportion of those aged 16 who get qualifications equivalent to 5 GCSE’s at grades A* to C to rise by 2 percentage points each year on average and in all schools at least 20% of pupils to achieve this standard by 2004, rising to 25% by 2006.

Government target – Increase the percentage of pupils obtaining 5 or more GCSE’s at A*-C, with at least 38% to achieve this standard in every local authority by 2004.

Borough target - The Boroughwide baselines and targets are as follows:-

Indicator Boroughwide Target Position Baseline Percentage of LEA maintained school 71.6% Target of 84% for pupils pupils achieving Level 4 or above in passing English by 2004 English at Key Stage 2. Percentage of LEA maintained school 72.3% Target of 84% for pupils pupils achieving Level 4 or above in passing Maths by 2004 Maths at Key Stage 2. Percentage of 15 year old LEA 42.9% Target of 50% by 2004 maintained school pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C or equivalent.

GCSE Attainment

GCSE results across the Borough have improved consistently during the last 4 years over and above the national rate. Results recorded of pupils gaining 5 or more GCSEs (grades A*-C) at schools within Oldham improved by 1 percentage point from 41.5% in 2001 to

West Oldham 32 42.9% in 2002 the national average is 51.5%. The aim is to bring Oldham’s performance to 50% by 2004.

Performance in West Oldham

5A*-C GCSE Achievement by School

There are five Secondary schools in the West Oldham area. The information presented below shows that West Oldham contains both higher and lower achieving schools in the Borough (it should be noted that Hulme Grammar Schools are both independent schools). The three state schools all achieve lower results than the Borough average. However, Grange School and Hathershaw Technology College have both improved over the last couple of years, with Grange showing a 200% improvement in this measurement during the last four years.

Table 1: Percentage of pupils that achieved 5 or more GCSEs (grade A*-C) by school.

Year School 1999 2000 2001 2002 Grange School 15 19 23 33 Hathershaw Technology 34 31 27 31 College Hulme Grammar School for 94 98 94 100 Boys Hulme Grammar School for 99 100 100 99 Girls St Augustine of Canterbury RC 28 38 36 34

Borough Average 39.9 42.4 41.5 42.9 England Average 47.9 49.2 50.0 51.5

5A*C GCSE Achievement by Pupils’ residence –2002

The following calculations are based on where the pupils reside rather than the results of an individual school. This enables us to examine the GCSE attainments by ward and Area Committee. This measurement excludes pupils who do not reside in Oldham but attend Oldham schools. Also, it includes pupils resident in Oldham but who are educated in schools outside Oldham. The effect of this reduces the overall achievement level but is an important measure as it provides an indication of the future skill base of Oldham residents.

West Oldham 33

Table 2: Pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs (grade A*-C) by Ward & Area Committee

Ward Number of Number of % of pupils Ward Ranking pupils Pupils achieving 5 achieving 5 resident in A* -C GCSEs A* -C GCSEs each ward Alexandra 42 161 26.1 17 th Coldhurst 48 207 23.2 18 th St Pauls 58 143 40.6 11 th Werneth 44 167 26.3 16th Area Committee Number of Area Number of Area pupils Committee year 11 pupils Committee achieving 5 Population Ranking A* -C GCSEs West Oldham 192 678 28.3 6th

Borough Total (excluding. 1107 2843 38.9 pupils not resident in Borough)

West Oldham is ranked the lowest on this score with only 28.3% of pupils resident in the area achieving 5 or more GCSEs (grades A*-C). This is well below the Borough average of 38.9%, the Government target of 38% and is significantly below the 50% target figure. St. Paul’s performs relatively well with 40.6% of pupils achieving more than 5 GCSEs (A*- C). However, Coldhurst ward is ranked 18 th , with less than one in four pupils (23.2%) passing more than 5 GCSEs (A*-C).

Progression Routes – Destination of pupils post-16 (2002)

In order to raise the economic well being of Oldham, it is imperative that the future workforce is highly skilled. There are primarily four routes that a young person can take to progress to post-GCSE education: • Further education (A-Levels, NVQs etc); • Work based training (Modern & Advanced apprenticeships), • Employment without training; • Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).

West Oldham 34 Progression into either further education or work-based training will increase the skills base of the individual. An individual not in education, employment or training is more likely to be socially excluded and subsequently suffer from greater levels of poverty. Nationally, around 10% of 16-18 year olds are described as being not in education, employment or training. Oldham Borough is in line with the rest of the country on this measure.

The table below shows that West Oldham ranks 4 th on the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) with a score of 10.4%. This is comparable to Borough and National figures. St. Paul’s and Werneth wards both show higher levels of young people remaining in education than the Borough average, but less young people engaged in work based training (9.9% & 12.4% respectively). Alexandra ward, conversely has a greater number progressing onto work based training, but low numbers of people staying on for further education and a significant NEET score.

Table 3: Progression Routes of young people (Year 11) by Ward & Area Committee

Ward Staying on rate In Work-based TOTAL NEET NEET Ward % Training % % Ranking Alexandra 61.9 16.9 14.8 17 th Coldhurst 68.1 15.2 8.5 12 th St. Pauls 76.8 9.9 8.8 14 th Werneth 71.6 12.4 9.8 15th Area Committee Staying on rate In Work-based TOTAL NEET NEET Area % Training % % Committee Ranking West Oldham 69.4 13.8 10.4 4th

Borough Average 69.0 16.9 9.4

Progression into Higher Education –2002

Central Government has set a National Target that 50% of all 18-30 year olds will have been engaged in Higher Education learning activity by 2010. The proportion of 18 year olds that enter Higher Education (HE) can be used, in part, to measure how successful Oldham might be in reaching this target.

23.1% of 18 year olds from the West Oldham area go on to full time Higher Education. This is well below the Borough average (30.7%) and is significantly below the 50% National target figure. The area is fourth lowest out of the six areas on this measurement, although St. Paul’s ward performs well, with 34.6% gaining places on HE courses, whereas Alexandra ward is ranked 19 th out of the 20 wards, with only 12.3% of 18 year olds going into a HE. Alexandra also suffers from a high dropout rate of those residents

West Oldham 35 that gained places at an HE institution and, as such, only 1 in 10 (10.3%) of the 18 year olds that gained a HE place continued their studies.

Table 4: Number of 18 year olds entering Higher Education by Ward and Area Committee

Ward No. of 18 No. of 18 % entering Rank of % Rank of % 18 yr Rank of year olds year olds HE per 18 yr olds Drop HE olds HE per ward entering ward entering out entrants entering entrants HE HE (per rate that drop HE and that stay ward/20) out (per staying on (per Ward) on ward/20) Alexandra 203 25 12.3 19 th 16.0 7th 10.3 19 th Coldhurst 225 38 16.9 17 th 15.8 8th 14.2 17 th St. Pauls 162 56 34.6 7th 7.1 17 th 32.1 7th Werneth 232 71 30.6 12 th 8.5 14th 28.0 10 th Area Area No. of 18 % entering Area % Rank of % 18 yr Area Committe Committe year olds HE per Committe Drop HE olds Committe e e entering Area e Rank out entrants entering e Rank of Population HE Committe (out of 6) rate that d rop HE and HE of 18 year e out staying entrants olds on that stay on (out of 6) West 822 190 23.1 4th 10.5 5th 20.7 4th Oldham Total

Borough 3019 928 30.7 12.6 28.6 Total

Adult Basic Skills

Everyone needs better basic skills, more now than they did in the past, which is why the Government has made improving basic skills a high priority. The Government has set a target that 750,000 adults should improve their basic skills by 2004. The Basic Skills Agency define basic skills as “the ability to read, write and speak English and to use mathematics at a level necessary to function and progress at work and in society in general”. Table five below shows the percentage of residents (aged 16-60) estimated to have basic skills needs (Basic Skills Agency, 1997)

West Oldham 36

Table 5: Percentage Of Residents With Literacy And Numeracy Needs

Ward % of 16-60 year Poor Numeracy % of 16-60 year Poor olds with poor Ward Ranking olds with poor Literacy numeracy literacy Ward Ranking Alexandra 39.9 2nd 35.9 1st Coldhurst 37.1 6th 35.0 4th St Pauls 31.1 9th 29.1 9th Werneth 38.2 5th 35.1 3rd West Oldham 36.6 1st 33.8 1st

Borough Average 28.9 27.7 National 24.0 24.0

West Oldham has the highest level of residents who have a basic numeracy and literacy skills need (36.6% and 33.8% respectively). Alexandra (ranked 2 nd and 1 st ) and Werneth (ranked 4 th and 5 th ) are the wards with the greatest need, as both score much higher than the Borough and National average.

What is Happening Now:

Education development projects

Proposed new £3 million Medlock Valley Primary School

Link Learning Centres : In West Oldham there are ten state of the art Learning Centres located throughout the area, which provide free access to the Internet and IT equipment, as well as supported learning activities to members of the public

West Oldham 37 Over 100 Learning Mentors introduced since September 2002 working across the Borough

Development of e-learning infrastructure and materials

Increased flexibility and choice of academic and specialist vocational GCSE courses within the Borough

Completion of the City Learning Centre (Summer 2003)

Connecting Connexions – development of ICT infrastructure to enable Connexions Personal Advisors to visit pupils where they live.

£325,000 for Community and Voluntary groups to assist in the delivery of Adult Learning opportunities

A Life Long Learning Centre is being developed in the Cultural Quarter of the Town Centre at a cost of around £21 million. It will be completed by 2006. A replacement infant and junior school is being developed at Fitton Hill at a cost of £3.1 million

Children’s Centres - £4 million is available over two years to support initiatives for 0-5 year olds and their families.

A number of projects run through the Welfare to Work SRB scheme have an impact in West Oldham including a Targeted Mentoring Project which aims to re-engage disaffected and underachieving pupils back into learning. The Transitions into Special Needs Training project aims to reduce the flow of early leavers and non-achievers in special needs training by introducing Individual Development Plans, along with a Code of Practice for Special Needs Training. The Prince’s Trust Volunteer Programme is a 12- week programme of activities and follow-up support to help motivate, provide training and qualifications for young unemployed people.

West Oldham 38 What Will Take the Area Forward:

(The first partner listed in the end column to be the lead partner)

Task Measure of Success Resources Timescal Partners Needed e Aim: To develop and introduce the Junior University in Oldham . To develop and Improve the £300,000 per 2003/4 – Oldham introduce the Junior achievement rate of annum 2006/7 Sixth Form University in Oldham. pupils at GCSE College, Students will benefit level. Enhanced Schools from a programme of academic, careers enhanced academic, and personal Connexions careers and personal support from 14-18 The Oldham support from 14-18. At Reduce the number College entry to Higher of 16-18 year olds Excellence in Education, there will be not in education, Cities a detailed case employment and Private conference handover training (NEET) with receiving Sector Increase the institutions. Employers number of students entering FE & HE Reduce the drop out rate at FE & HE Aim: To further develop and enhance the Oldham Apprenticeship Programme. Expand the range of Increase the £150,000 per 2003/4 – The Oldham high quality number of 16-22 annum 2006/7 College apprenticeships in year olds OTC partnership with blue undertaking chip companies Apprenticeship Connexions schemes Private Increase the Sector number of paid Employers apprenticeships available to Oldham residents Reduce the number of 16-18 year olds not in education, employment and

West Oldham 39 Task Measure of Success Resources Timescal Partners Needed e training (NEET)

Task Measure of Success Resources Timescal Partners Needed e Aim: To expand Oldham Business Management School to become University College Oldham In Partnership with the Increase the range £4,000,000 2003/4 – Oldham 2006/7 Business NW Development of HE courses (of which Management Agency, University of available to the £2,000,000 has School Huddersfield and key residents of been secured.) learning providers, the Oldham. The Oldham creation of University Increase the College College Oldham will number of Students enable a greater range Oldham entering Higher Sixth Form of HE available to the Education local population. College Reduce the number OTC of 16-18 year olds not in education, Connexions employment and NWDA training (NEET) University of Huddersfield Private Sector Employers

Aim : To provide support to residents to increase their skills levels to ensure greater employability through the ‘Grow our own Professionals’ scheme. This scheme will work Increase the range £65,000 2003/4 – Local of HE courses 2006/7 Learning with public and private sector employers to available to the Partnership residents of Oldham provide a pool of staff OEBGS who have suitable skills for the sector Adult Increase the Guidance number of Students Network entering Higher Oldham

West Oldham 40 Task Measure of Success Resources Timescal Partners Needed e Education Council The Oldham College Reduce the number of 16-18 year olds VOICE not in education, employment and training (NEET)

Aim: To develop and deliver a comprehensive workplace learning programme focusing on literacy, numeracy and ICT skills To engage with local Reduce the number £100,000 2003/4 – Lifelong 2006/7 Learning employers to develop of adults with low . and deliver a levels of literacy, Service comprehensive numeracy and ICT The Oldham workplace learning skills. College programme focusing on literacy, numeracy Adult and ICT skills. Increase the skill Guidance levels and Network employability of the Business workforce. Link North Manchester Aim : To undertake annual consultation to inform the Strategic and Curriculum planning process To undertake annual Strategic and LSC funds. 2003/4 Local consultation within the Curriculum plans Learning West Oldham area to responsive to Partnership inform the Strategic identified need. Lifelong and Curriculum learning planning process. service OEBGS Oldham Sixth Form College The Oldham

West Oldham 41 Task Measure of Success Resources Timescal Partners Needed e College VOICE Aim : To deliver a range of learning opportunities to adults to meet identified need. To deliver a range of Specific targets met From LSC and 2003/4 Lifelong learning opportunities for Learner other external Learning to adults to meet recruitment; funds. Service identified need. retention; Youth achievement and Service progression.

Individual and Libraries, community Information & Archives To implement the empowerment. Lifelong Learning New learners Galleries, Service’s Widening engaged leading to Museums & Participation Strategy personal Arts by delivering specific development and Sports projects. community capacity Development building. Brook

Social Services Primary Care Trust Surestart; Early Years Voluntary Sector Others as appropriate Aim: To implement the Basic Skills strategy. To implement the Specific targets met LSC Funds and 2003/4 Local Basic Skills strategy. for the recruitment, other external Learning retention and funds. Partnership achievement of Lifelong Basic Skills Learning learners. Individual Service and community capacity building. The Oldham

West Oldham 42 Task Measure of Success Resources Timescal Partners Needed e College Voluntary Sector Aim: To develop and implement a Family Learning Strategy To develop and Family Learning LSC Funds and 2003/4 Lifelong implement a Family Strategy in place. other external Learning Learning Strategy. Specific targets met funds. Service for recruitment, Schools retention and achievement of Surestart learners. Individual Early Years and community Libraries, capacity building. Information and Archives Voluntary Sector Others as appropriate.

West Oldham 43

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Children and Young People have been recognised as a major priority in the Borough and a new Partnership has been established to help better co-ordinate and develop services for children, young people and their families.

“A Borough where young people can access a broad range of social, educational and leisure opportunities which support and encourage them to make positive choices about their lives and achieve their potential as individuals and citizens.”

What Local People Say:

People in West Oldham stated that we need to see young people as the solution, rather than the problem. They felt that investing in young people by providing them with the right education and training would help them get good jobs.

Young people enjoyed the youth clubs in the area, stating that they had lots of different things to do. However, some were unhappy that youth clubs were not always open.

People in Fitton Hill, Coppice and Werneth suggested that more play areas and parks be provided for children and young people. They felt that by providing places for them to go would ease the problem of anti-social behaviour and from youths.

Many felt that the provision of mentors for children would give them direction in life.

What is Good About the Area: There are a variety of funding opportunities that have introduced new initiatives such as Youth Buses and “Cottoning On”, a project looking at the causes of poor health amongst young people and Asian women.

There are a number of parks in the area.

There is easy access to all that Town Centre has to offer such as the sports centre, Gallery Oldham, Central Library, nightlife and education facilities.

There are a number of community facilities e.g. OBA Millennium Cultural Centre, Hathershaw Community Centre.

West Oldham 44

Statistics:

Childcare Places

There are 13,168 children aged between 0-14 living in the West Oldham area. There are currently 655 childcare places available, which means that provision exists for only 4.9% of children. There are differences also between the wards; Werneth has the highest percentage of childcare places available, at 7.46%; St. Paul’s has 7.41%; Coldhurst has 4.63% and Alexandra has the lowest with 2.65%. These are by far the lowest level of provision in the Borough with the exception of St. Mary’s.

0-4 Year Olds

Children aged 0-4 years make up 9.7% of the overall area population compared to 7% of the Borough population.

Percentage of 0-4 year olds in West Oldham, compared to the percentage of 0-4 year olds in the Borough.

Table 1

12

10

8

6

4

2

0 Borough Area St Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

West Oldham 45 0-14 Year Olds

Children aged 0-14 years make up 27% of the area population compared to 21.5% of the Borough population.

Percentage of 0-14 year olds in West Oldham compared to the percentage of 0-14 year olds living in the Borough.

Table 2

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 Borough Area St Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

West Oldham 46 Under 16s

The number of under 16s in West Oldham make up 28.7% of the population for the area population, compared with the Borough population which stands at 23%.

Percentage of under 16 year olds in West Oldham, compared to the percentage of under 16 year olds living in the Borough

Table 3

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 Borough Area St Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

West Oldham 47 16-24 Year Olds

People aged 16-24 years make up 13.9% of the area population compared to 10.7% of the Borough population.

Percentage of 16-24 year olds in West Oldham, compared to the percentage of under 16-24 year olds living in the Borough

Table 4

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Borough Area St Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

Additional statistics relating to Children and Young People in West Oldham can be found in Appendix3, table 2

What Is Happening Now:

Oldham Youth Service consulted widely with young people on the development of a Youth Charter for the Borough. Young people felt that the Charter should be easy to read, in young, person-friendly language and not too long. The Charter should be prominently displayed in youth facilities and the facilities themselves should be warm, safe, suitably furnished, well-resourced, within one bus ride from where they lived, open as much as possible and accessible to all.

Neighbourhood Renewal funding (NRF) has been used to establish a number of key projects. These include a team of detached youth workers and team leaders who are able to respond at short notice to expressed need for youth work intervention from communities or other agencies. NRF also funds a People and Communities Young People initiative that offers recreational provision for young people aged 9-13 on school sites in each of the Area Committee areas of the Borough on four nights per week.

West Oldham 48 NRF funding has also been used to appoint a project worker to co-ordinate the work of the Oldham Youth Alliance, which will impact on children and young people across the Borough.

Youth Service delivery has been included within the extended powers of delegation to Area Committees. At present, resources are distributed inequitably across the Area Committee areas and proposals are being considered by the Council which will mean that each area will have dedicated youth workers who will enable existing facilities to be open longer and more often.

SRB6 funding is being used to help fund a youth trainee scheme, where local residents are being recruited to deliver youth work in the area. Family support and family learning schemes employ outreach workers to work with parents and young children to encourage learning.

New Deal for Communities is making significant investment in young people including:

A children’s forum, which is being developed to give children a voice in local decision making.

A community based Connexions service is being established in the Advice Centre for young people no longer at school.

A new nursery is to be built to provide childcare facilities and training in childcare for local people.

A youth inclusion project to help prevent young people from truanting, exclusion or offending.

Families First – support for families with a focus upon pre school provision.

A youth facility is being developed in Glodwick.

There are a variety of training and work experience opportunities provided by Groundwork that enable young people to participate in social and environmental projects.

There are a variety of drug related support projects provided via DAAT (Drugs and Alcohol Team), the Probation Service and Oldham Business Education Guidance Service.

What Will Take the Area Forward:

To be determined by the new Children and Young People’s Partnership in consultation with the Area Committee as part of the development of their strategy.

West Oldham 49 HOUSING

Housing is one of the Priority for Action themes in Oldham’s Community Strategy. The strategy states:

“Oldham’s housing market will be confident and thriving, offering real choice and providing good standard accommodation which meets the needs and aspirations of all who wish to live here; obsolete housing will be eradicated with local people influencing the design and taking more responsibility for the management of neighbourhoods in which they have a stake, living in harmony in communities which respect diversity in a Borough in which they are proud to reside.”

The aim of the Strategy with regard to housing is to create, over the next 20 years, a confident, thriving housing market which provides diversity of choice to meet the needs and aspirations of all those who live in Oldham. The need for a Borough-wide Housing Strategy is highlighted under this theme in the Community Strategy.

There are major opportunities to tackle the problems that exist in West Oldham and to meet the needs set out within the Housing Strategy. This will be done through working in partnership with a variety of stakeholders and, in particular, with local people. By working in partnership we will be able to attract investment and ensure that monies are spent effectively and sustainably.

What Local People Say:

There is a mixture of views on Housing and such is the diversity of the area, these views differ according to where people live and the type and quality of accommodation. There are major concerns from people that issues such as crime, anti-social behaviour and the poor environment give areas a poor reputation and contribute to the low house prices that are evident across most of the area. These issues also contribute to the low/poor demand for housing, particularly for public sector housing.

Problems with private landlords have also been cited by people as being a major concern.

Comments have been made by people about the need to be more radical in tackling the problems with housing and consideration should be given to more clearance of areas where the problems are most acute – this is particularly the case in Werneth/Freehold.

Information from the recently completed General Tenants’ Survey carried out by First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) shows the following:

• A majority of residents expressed satisfaction with the overall level of housing service. There were, though, issues expressed about the inability to access services due to language difficulties;

West Oldham 50 • A majority of residents are satisfied with their current home;

• A majority of residents expressed satisfaction with the area in which they live, although West Oldham expressed the lowest satisfaction rate of all the areas. However, there were still some concerns about a number of area issues, for example, litter and rubbish, lack of police presence, vandalism and so on;

• In terms of improvements needed to properties, the highest priority was for new windows followed by kitchens and bathrooms.

What is Good About the Area:

The area has good links to Oldham Town Centre’s facilities and employment prospects

The area is well served by public and private transport infrastructure

The area has substantial social rented property base

Some areas contain good quality housing areas, for example, Coppice (south of Windsor Road), Garden Suburb and Bardsley

There are opportunities for residential development in the Town Centre itself

There are opportunities for residential development in areas well served by Metrolink

New residential development can offer residents a wider range of opportunities to choose where they would like to live and aid community cohesion

The Housing Market Renewal Fund offers opportunities for major housing improvements

New Deal for Communities (in Fitton Hill and Hathershaw) and Single Regeneration Budget (in Coppice, Werneth and Hollinwood) offer further opportunities for substantial investment to address the serious problems the area faces.

Important Issues For The Area

There are major issues relating to community cohesion, environmental quality, housing market failure and housing condition.

Crime and anti-social behaviour need to be addressed.

Work is also needed in improving the image and reputation of the area and improving the demand for the area.

There is a perception that residential communities are somewhat isolated from the Oldham area as a whole.

West Oldham 51 The condition of stock in the private sector is often poor.

In some areas there is a low demand for housing. House prices are low and in some areas appear to be falling. If this continues, there is a risk of abandonment. Housing market failure is a feature evident in specific neighbourhoods.

There are significant areas of derelict and underused industrial land and buildings

There is a lack of a cohesive vision for area as a whole.

Statistics: Government target around Decent Homes – The Government is committed to improving the condition of homes and to make them decent. It has set targets for all homes to be decent by 2010. The Council is committed to meeting these targets in all its housing. Through First Choice Homes, Housing Market Renewal and the transfer of Fitton Hill there are opportunities to help meet these targets.

Performance in West Oldham

There are 3,411 homes in the social housing sector (First Choice Homes Oldham) not meeting the Decent Homes Standard in West Oldham compared to 12,279 in the Borough. (As measured in April 2003)

Area Target –

First Choice Homes Oldham

Number of Non - Decent by Year

Area Comm. Apr-03 Apr-04 Apr-05 Apr-06 Apr-07

West Oldham 3411 2558 1705 852 0

Oldham 12279 9208 6137 3066 0

Information on the current situation within the Housing Association sector is being collated, but it is likely that most of their homes will meet the Decent Homes Standard, whilst a Stock Condition Survey is being carried out on homes in the private sector. The outcome of the survey will determine the condition of properties and the amount of work required. Existing information tells us that conditions are poor.

Additional statistic relating to housing in West Oldham can be found in Table 3, Appendix 3.

West Oldham 52 Opportunities for the Area

• There are opportunities for regeneration of terraced stock, more clearance and new developments

• There are opportunities to improve the environment and the way in which the environment is managed

• Marketing opportunities for people from the BME community who live in more traditional areas

• There is an opportunity to create more ownership

• Housing Market Renewal Fund provides opportunities to transform housing conditions and the area in general

• The transfer of Fitton Hill to Villages Housing Association will mean that properties will be improved.

West Oldham 53 Housing Renewal Priorities Almost the whole of West Oldham, with the exception of Bardsley and a small number of residential properties off Abbey Hills Road.

Housing conditions across the area have been analysed and the following priority areas have been identified.

Werneth / Freehold Average house resale prices: All properties - £20,505 Terraced properties - £19,975 Voids 12.01%.

Werneth / Freehold has the lowest average house resale price in the Borough and only Glodwick has a lower terraced house resale price.

Over the past year, the average house resale price has fallen.

The percentage of void properties is the highest in the Borough.

Hathershaw Average house resale prices: All properties - £30,107 Terraced properties – £24,644. Voids 8.2%.

Property resale values in Hathershaw are amongst the lowest in the Borough (only Werneth / Freehold, Hollinwood, and Clarksfield have lower average resale values).

Over the past year, the average house resale value has risen in some areas of Hathershaw and fallen in others.

The level of void property in Hathershaw is amongst the highest in the Borough.

Westwood and Coldhurst Average house resale prices: All properties - £38,437 Terraced properties - £30,051 Voids 8.65%.

The level of void property in Westwood / Coldhurst is amongst the highest in the Borough.

Coppice Average house resale prices: All properties - £38,843

West Oldham 54 Terraced properties - £33,757 Voids 9.92%

The level of void properties in Coppice is amongst the highest in the Borough.

The data described above is illustrated on the following tables.

Table 1

Table 2 Median House Prices

50000 45000 40000 35000 30000 A verage house resale prices: 25000 20000 Terraced Properties 15000 What10000 Is Happening Now: 5000 0 As can be seen, there are a range of diverse issues throughout the West Oldham area, all of which need to be tackled. Some of the issues are more of a priority than others and need to be dealt with quickly, while others are not so and can be done in the longer term. Based on the comments made by local people and other partners/stakeholders, a number of things are happening or are planned for the short, medium and long-term. Listed below are some of the key priorities for the West Oldham area.

First Choice Homes Oldham – Council housing in the Borough is now managed through First Choice Homes Oldham. £72m will be coming into the Borough, which will enable the Decent Homes Standard to be met. The proposal is to meet the standard in the Council’s propertyPercentage by 2007. of Vacant A proportion Property of that money, some £20m , will be spent in the West Oldham area. Additional investment will also include remodelling of 14

estates/dwellings,12 changing demand and community cohesion initiatives,

environmental10 improvements and disabled adaptations. By 2007, all First Choice

Homes8 properties will meet Decent Homes Standards.

6 Stock transfer offers a further opportunity to improve housing conditions at Fitton Hill. A 4 majority of residents have recently voted for the transfer of the local authority housing 2 to Villages Housing Association. This will bring significant investment into the area and 0 ensure a more consistent approach to the management of the properties.

In Werneth, a community development project is being brought forward and a master planning exercise supported.

In Glodwick, the Harmony Street redevelopment will provide housing for rent and sale (around 50 new homes in total).

Also in Glodwick, a Block Repair scheme is being led by OMBC, as part of the Neighbourhood Renewal Area Initiative.

West Oldham 55 The Neighbourhood Renewal Area Initiative in Westwood is coming to an end. This initiative has seen many properties improved, properties cleared and new properties developed.

An Equity Release Programme will provide loans to owners across most of the area.

Housing Market Renewal – The Werneth/Freehold area has been identified as one of Oldham’s priority areas for investment through Housing Market Renewal.

The Council is undertaking a Borough-wide Stock Condition Survey, which will determine the condition of properties in the area and the levels of improvement required, plus the numbers of properties considered to be obsolete. The results of this survey will determine future investment priorities for the area

Information on the areas and properties to be covered can be found in Appendix 5.

What Will Take the Area Forward:

Early Priorities A series of pieces of work are being undertaken to identify the overall priorities for investment through the Housing Market Renewal Fund.

A masterplan is also being prepared for the whole of Oldham, in addition to ongoing work in developing Area Strategies and Position Statements. In advance of this work, a series of early actions have been identified which will be brought forward with immediate effect.

The selection criteria used to identify early action neighbourhoods are as follows:

Market failure or weakness;

Programme issues;

Extent to which the communities are already working together for change;

Extent to which radical action might be feasible;

Suitability of the housing, such as disrepair, unfitness, size/type and overcrowding;

Risks associated with delayed action; and

Risk of early assessment and intervention not succeeding.

Based upon the above criteria, Werneth/Freehold has been identified as an early priority

West Oldham 56 for detailed assessment and implementation. Already, works are ongoing to acquire properties in the area, for either improvement or clearance. The local authority housing around Featherstall Road, St. John’s area is also being considered for demolition.

Demolition of Oxford House

Hathershaw will be considered for detailed assessment as soon as capacity permits

New build housing at Quebec Street Completion of Stock Condition Survey.

The formal approval of the Stock Transfer at Fitton Hill. Once approval is given, improvement works can begin.

In terms of investment in local authority housing, proposals are already in place for the whole of West Oldham that will see homes brought up to the Government’s Decent Homes Standard within the next four years. Around £20m is due to be spent, with works already underway in certain parts of the area.

Information on the areas and properties to be covered can be found in Appendix 5. HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Health and Social Care is a Priority for Action theme of Oldham’s Community Strategy. The strategy states:

“By listening, learning and working together we will create high quality Health and Social Services, which will improve the health and general well-being of all the citizens of Oldham.”

Improving people’s health and well-being cannot be done by one agency alone. By Health Services and the Local Authority working in partnership, there is an opportunity to bring professionals and local people together to achieve a common sense of purpose. It involves a strategic approach by all agencies, which recognises the inter-relation between improving health and other issues including housing, regeneration, education and transport.

The overall aim is to directly improve the health and general well-being of local people and to recognise and address wider determinants of health including social, economic and environmental factors. Health and Social Care agencies work together to provide services that ensure equality of opportunity and equity of provision for all members of the community. The Community Strategy is part of the foundations on which to build a long and successful partnership between Health and Social Care agencies and the people of Oldham.

West Oldham 57 The term ‘social care’ covers a wide range of services, which are provided by local authorities and the independent sector. Social care comes in many forms. Adults and their carers can be supported in the community through care in their own homes, in day centres, meal services, or by helping people back to education or employment and by way of residential or nursing homes. Children and their families can be supported through child protection, family support within the community, fostering and adoption and residential care services.

Oldham Council, through its Social Services Department, aims to ensure that services are developed in order to meet the health and social care needs of local people. It does this within a framework of duties, responsibilities and national standards laid down by central government and by working in partnership with other Council Departments, Health Services and the independent sector.

Oldham Primary Care Trust is responsible for improving (and addressing inequalities in) the health of their community and developing primary and community health services and commissioning secondary care services. The PCT covers 45 general practices with 106 GPs and directly employs nearly 650 people, with more than 300 providing community- based healthcare, involving a broad range of nursing and allied health professional services.

These services include: 24-hour district nursing; health visiting; child protection; Adult Learning Disabilities; Children’s Learning Disabilities; school nursing; transfer of care; continence; community pediatrics; speech and language therapy; occupational therapy; podiatry; audiology; and community dental services.

Statistics:

West Oldham has the poorest health experience in the Borough, being the most deprived area in Oldham and amongst the most deprived at a national level.

Rates of early death are substantially higher than the Borough average and in three wards, 60% or higher than the national average. Health experience for males in West Oldham is poorer than for females, with three wards experiencing lower life expectancy for males than the Oldham average. Only one ward (Alexandra) has poorer life expectancy for females than the Oldham average.

For most of the area, teenage conception rates are lower than the average. However, rates of infant mortality, at 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in the first year of life and rates of low birth weight are substantially higher than that for Oldham.

West Oldham 58 One in four of all the children in Oldham live in this area and 7 out of 10 of those live in poverty. This is against a background of a high number of unemployed adults with low levels of education, with 1 in 4 adults having low literacy and numeracy skills.

Strong links are known to exist between education and health, with those educated to higher levels experiencing less morbidity and less premature death. That is, the better a person’s education, the greater likelihood of good health and longer life.

Education and socio-economic success are linked with poor educational attainment linked to high levels of socio-economic deprivation. Socio-economic deprivation is a significant risk factor for ill health and premature death.

For young men in Oldham West life expectancy at birth is 71.0 years compared to 72.7 for Oldham, and 75.5 for the UK as a whole. Women fair better with a life expectancy 77.9 years, which is equal to Oldham as a whole, but less than the UK, which is 80.3. Therefore, the young people born into this area live, on average, shorter lives than the UK as a whole.

The Standard Mortality Rate for 1997/99 shows that in Oldham for this time period there were 3,139 deaths in people aged 75 and under. Had the health experience been the same as for that for England and Wales, we would have expected to see 2,434 deaths in this three year period. This equates to an excess number of deaths of 705

In Oldham West there were 723 deaths in the same time period. Had the health experience been the same as for England and Wales the expected number of deaths would have been 473. That is, in Oldham West, there were an additional 250 deaths. Therefore, of the 705 excess deaths across Oldham as a whole, 250, or 35%, happened in the Oldham West area.

The most common reasons for deaths in this area relate to circulatory diseases. People with Pakistani and Bangladeshi origins have a predisposition to diabetes and people of Afro-Caribbean origin to hypertension. This makes the population of this area genetically at greater risk of developing these diseases.

These conditions are chronic and, unless well-managed, many sufferers will have chronic complications, impairing their ability to work or live independently.

Rates of long term limiting illness are, unsurprisingly, the highest rates of any of the Area Committees at 22.6%. This is higher than the figure for Oldham as a whole, which has an average of 20.2%. This is also reflected in the number of Disability Claims, which show that 10.4% of the Oldham West area population claims this benefit, as compared to the borough average of 8.5%. Over 1/4 (25.6%) of all claims made in Oldham are for Oldham West residents.

West Oldham 59 Although the combined impact on the adult population of caring for family members with a disability, a long term limiting illness or pre-school child is difficult to quantify, Oldham West has a combination of issues that will necessarily impact on them as carers. The impact of these on employment opportunities, educational attainment of young carers, the demand for social services, the loss of earning ability for those directly affected, must combine at some level to limit opportunities for people and families to improve their health opportunities.

The National Health Inequality Targets

Starting with children under one year, by 2010 to reduce by at least 10% the gap in mortality between manual groups and the population as a whole.

Related Targets

Reduce smoking rates amongst manual groups from 32% in 1998 to 26% by 2010.

To make substantial progress towards the eradication of child poverty by reducing the number of children living in poverty by a quarter by 2004. Government target – By achieving agreed local conception reduction targets, reduce the national under – 18 conception rate by 15% by 2004 and 50% by 2010, while reducing the level of inequality in rates between the worst fifth of wards and the average by at least a quarter.

Government target - Starting with Local Authorities, by 2010 to reduce by at least 10% the gap between the fifth of areas with the lowest life expectancy at birth and the population as a whole. (Oldham is one of the fifth of the areas with the lowest life expectancy).

Borough targets – These are the same as the National Targets

Area targets – Need to be established for each of the six area committees to measure Health Inequality at a local level. These targets will be set by the Health Inequalities Modernisation Team.

Further statistics on Health and Social Care can be found in Table 5, Appendix 3

What Local People Say: Social Services have conducted a number of consultation exercises in the West Oldham area. In July 2003, a group of older men from the Pakistani Community said that a community or social centre located between each mosque would benefit the area. As people tend to only meet regularly in the mosque and they cannot speak, therefore an

West Oldham 60 alternative social outlet would enhance the community. Many of the participants involved in the consultation had lived in the area since the 1960’s and believed that they had watched the community decline.

Consultation with residents in the Coppice and Primrose Bank areas on health and quality of life were undertaken during 1999. Very few health service issues were raised during these consultations. People raised issues about health determinants (health influencing factors). In particular, key issues for people were community involvement, the local environment, engaging young people, ethnic minority and cultural issues, parenting, leisure and play. People were also concerned about education, partnership, unemployment, drugs, housing, crime, poverty and isolation.

Consultation with residents living in Hathershaw and Fitton Hill, conducted to develop the health and well being section of the New Deal for Communities bid, highlighted concerns about accessible services, in particular for those with physical or sensory disabilities or other special needs. Residents wanted access to affordable healthy food, locally based sports and recreation facilities, local shopping facilities and services and places to meet and socialise. More readily and regularly available health advice and service information and a range of locally based evening classes with activities for young people that meet their needs were also suggested. The local environment was highlighted, with better standards needed along with more transport options to meet the needs of local people. What is Good About the Area: There are the following services in the area:-

• 9 dentist’s surgeries; • 39 G.P.’s operating from 11 surgeries; • 7 opticians services; • 3 local pharmacies; • 26 residential and day care establishments; • 10 children’s service units; 26 establishments providing residential and day care; • 10 establishments providing Children and Young People’

What Is Happening Now:

Health Care in West Oldham provided by Oldham Primary Care Trust.

The PCT is responsible for community-based healthcare provided by GPs, dentists, pharmacists and opticians.

West Oldham 61 The PCT directly employs community-based nurses, including district nurses, health visitors, school nurses and learning disability nurses. It also employs therapists, including physiotherapists and audiologists.

The PCT also employs the support teams and managers needed to facilitate the provision of these services. The PCT is responsible for commissioning the health care provided for Oldhamers by hospitals and mental health care teams. This means that the PCT pays for the cost of these services.

The PCT is also responsible for health promotion, encouraging people to follow healthier lifestyles and to become more involved in their healthcare.

The three main aims of Oldham PCT are to:

• Improve the health of the people of Oldham and address inequalities in terms of accessing health services

• Commission health services for the people of Oldham, and

• Provide and develop primary and community health services for the people of Oldham

There are some specific Health and Social Care issues which have been identified as being additional local priorities in Oldham.These include:

Diabetes – ensuring that the national service framework for the development of services for people with diabetes is implemented in Oldham.

Children’s services – the programme for the development of health and social services for improving the well-being of children is broad and covers a wide range of services spanning many organisations.

Physical disability services – ensuring that those with limitations on their physical capacity are able to improve their quality of life and their independence

Alcohol – It is well known that alcohol misuse contributes significantly to much ill health in Oldham and elsewhere. This is a priority area for the development of appropriate services.

Sexual health services – a national strategy for sexual health has been published and will be implemented in Oldham.

West Oldham 62

Respiratory illness – respiratory illness is a significant cause of ill health in Oldham and effective and appropriate service provision is required.

Dental services – enhancing the accessibility of dental care and delivering an increase in the use of preventative measures.

Full details of the above are available in the Health and Social Care Strategy, available from the PCT.

Joint Working with Oldham Council

Organisational boundaries can often be a barrier to delivering effective patient care. Patients often have a requirement for both healthcare and social care. In particular, joint packages of care are often essential in order to ensure that patients can remain in their own homes for as long as they wish, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital.

Patients regularly tell us that their preferred wish is to remain in their own homes, in familiar surroundings, with the care teams coming to them. It is for this reason that Oldham PCT’s joint work with Social Services and the voluntary sector is so important.

Our objective is for health and social care services to become more closely connected so that the needs of clients and their families are better served. Our partnership is taking shape in many different ways, helping to reduce bureaucracy and improve patient care. Joint working often involves joint funding of services.

The Joint Equipment Store is but one example of how Social Services and the PCT are working increasingly together. This store enables the loan of aids to patients, maximizing the time for which they are able to stay in their own homes.

Intermediate Care has enabled the development of closer working relationships, with a commitment to integrate this service over the next three years and we have plans for joint appointments for assistant practitioners who will fill a dual health and social care role.

Through the use of powers such as Section 31 of the Health Act (1999), we have been able to create "pooled budgets", one example being in disability services. This is a concrete demonstration of how different organisations are coming together to deliver services. We intend to build on this kind of flexibility as we redesign our services for the benefit of local people.

In Continuing Care , there are now joint care criteria across Greater Manchester and these, too, are helping to raise quality standards for all service users. There will also be

West Oldham 63 Joint Panels to help deliver more effective discharges in line with the Discharge Bill, which is expected to become legislation shortly.

The PCT will also continue with the transfer of care teams and work closely with hospital social work teams. All this will help deliver a single assessment process for older people that will remove many of the current delays in making sure that they get the help and support they need as quickly as possible and with the minimum disruption.

Joint work in disability services will be further developed, as will our partnership with a number of Sure Start schemes across Oldham. There are plans, too, to strengthen our joint Occupational Therapy service in partnership with Social Services.

Access

The PCT has responsibility for a range of service quality improvements, including access to both primary care (or community-based) services, and secondary care (or hospital- based) services. The PCT’s performance in 2002-2003 was as follows:

Number of outpatients waiting longer than the standard

The PCT had to ensure that the number of outpatients waiting more than 26 weeks throughout the year, or more than 21 weeks at the end of March 2003 for an outpatient admission, was zero, which was achieved for 2003. Several patient-centered initiatives, including Tier 2 , will aim to build on this success. Tier 2 aims to offer specialist healthcare for a range of chronic conditions, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and allowing hospital teams to concentrate on the most complex cases. The scheme involves community-based healthcare professionals across Oldham, including GPs, nurses and other therapists, working in partnership with consultants and health teams from the Royal Oldham Hospital and other hospitals.

Number of inpatients waiting longer than the standard

The PCT had to ensure that the number of patients who were waiting more than 15 months throughout the year, or more than 12 months at the end of March 2003, for an inpatient admission, was zero. This was also achieved for 2003. The Referral Information Centre, which provides a one-stop shop for patient information on referrals and other initiatives involving the PCT, working with the Royal Oldham Hospital and other hospitals, will build on this success.

Total time in Accident and Emergency

The PCT had to ensure that at least 90% of patients waited less than four hours from arrival in Accident and Emergency to admission, transfer or discharge – the level reached

West Oldham 64 for 2003 was 93%. Although four hours is the target, work with the Royal Oldham Hospital means that most patients will be seen far quicker than this. The PCT is part of the Emergency Services Collaborative, which is a national programme aimed at reducing waiting times and preventing delays for patients in Accident and Emergency departments and will continue working with health teams from the Royal Oldham to improve standards.

Access to a GP

The PCT had a target of enabling 87.5% of patients to be able to be offered an appointment to see a GP within two working days and reached a figure of 82.5%.

Access to a primary care professional

The PCT had a target of enabling 87.5% of patients to see a primary care professional (including district nurses, health visitors or therapists) within one working day and reached a figure of 86.5%.

Action relating to GP and primary care access targets

Although the PCT narrowly missed both these access targets, the work done by GPs and their staff represents substantial progress in the Borough, against a backdrop of historic under-funding nationally. Several initiatives are likely to improve primary care access.

These include attracting more salaried GPs to Oldham and funding for health care assistants. Health care assistants support GPs and practice nurses by carrying out simple medical procedures such taking blood pressure. In turn, this frees up GPs and nurses, allowing them to cut waiting times for appointments with patients, among other benefits.

The PCT is also investing in practice nurses and arranging triage training, allowing patients to receive the most appropriate level of medical care.

The PCT is also extending the work of the Primary Care Collaborative , which allows GP practices to share best practice, particularly in improving access rates. There are currently eleven practices in the Collaborative across the Borough and the PCT has a planned programme of development to involve more practices in the scheme.

Results from practices already in the scheme include:

• more than 50 GP appointments a month saved at Hopwood House, by training of reception staff to highlight the range of nurse-led services available.

Tackling health inequalities

West Oldham 65 In Oldham, health inequalities, illustrated by differences in indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality, are greater than the national average.

The Health Inequalities Strategy sets out how Oldham plans to tackle health inequalities over the next three years and is closely linked to the Department of Health’s "Tackling Health Inequalities: A Programme for Action". It aims to set in place action that will help Oldham achieve both national and local health inequality targets. The Strategy aims to tackle the health inequalities between Oldham and England and Wales, as well as the inequalities experienced within Oldham. This strategy is organized against four key themes. These are:

• Supporting families, mothers and children (incorporating healthy pregnancy, early childhood and opportunities for children and young people)

• Engaging communities and individuals p reventing illness and providing effective treatment and care (incorporating improving NHS primary care services, developing public health opportunities in primary care and tackling the major killers: CHD and cancer and reducing intra PCT inequalities)

• Addressing the determinants of Health Action will take place at a number of levels. The Health and Social Care Partnership will champion the cause of health inequalities at a strategic level whilst the Health Inequalities Modernisation Team will be the key driver in delivering the Strategy and developing good practice across Oldham. Other strategic groups will be asked to address the parts of the action plan, which are linked to their work. Agencies will have the responsibility to work in partnership to reshape services to narrow the health gap. The area committee infrastructure and locality projects should support community involvement in planning to maximise health gain.

The strategy is the first step in developing a co-ordinated approach to reducing health inequalities in Oldham. It involves all key local agencies, both statutory and voluntary, as well as individuals and communities. The strategy is challenging but an important way forward in improving the health experience where it is most needed.

Accordingly, the PCT has a programme of work, which is aiming to narrow the gap for the Oldham population. Via a combination of Department of Health funding, together with funds from other local regeneration and mainstream sources, the PCT has developed programmes such as:

• Food First in Hollinwood and Werneth

• Positive Health Action in Hathershaw and Fitton Hill

West Oldham 66 • Cottoning On - for young people, Black and Minority Ethnic women, a range of regeneration and mainstream finance.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) aims to trouble-shoot patients’ concerns and problems, to give advice to make access to services as easy as possible and to help people get involved in shaping the PCT’s services.

Nationally, PALS was developed in line with the NHS Plan, following an extensive national consultation process with patients, healthcare professionals, voluntary organisations and other groups. PALS came about because of a growing concern from all sectors about the increasing number of complaints made nationally about all aspects of healthcare. In particular, it was felt that many formal complaints could and should have been resolved before reaching that stage, but that this had failed to happen, often through poor communication.

PALS will build on systems already operating, but will also troubleshoot a range of problems and issues. By feeding back issues raised by both patients and healthcare professionals, PALS will also help improve the quality of services offered by the PCT.

PALS will:

• act as a contact point for patients, their relatives, friends and carers.

• help resolve concerns quickly and efficiently, improving the outcome of the care process.

• if necessary, guide patients and carers to the NHS complaints procedure.

• if necessary, negotiate immediate solutions with the PCT

PALS will not:

• take away or undermine the vital role that staff and professionals already have in solving problems on the spot.

• replace existing services such as complaints – PALS will complement and support existing systems.

• be insensitive to existing pressures, but will be dedicated to finding solutions for patients and staff.

You can contact Oldham PCT’s PALS service on 0800 389 8679

West Oldham 67 Involvement

The PCT recognises that actively involving members of the public in its planning process brings real advantages to all parties.

The PCT is running a patient and public involvement programme, which aims to include as many Oldhamers as possible in planning service improvements, further widening public involvement in PCT activities. Information on how to get more involved in improving health services is one of the most common requests from patients, carers and residents.

Among the recognised benefits of incorporating the public’s views into service improvement are:

• Local people know why existing services are not being used and what else they need locally

• Services that health professionals think are good may be difficult to obtain or • inappropriate for certain communities

• Patients may see additional advantages and disadvantages

• Involving patients in planning enables the PCT to target its resources better

• Greater public involvement helps make the PCT more accountable to local people

• Patients, carers and members of the public will develop the skills and knowledge they need to be able to take more responsibility for their individual health care

Methods of becoming involved

Respond to surveys or questionnaires, which are sent to you. We would not ask if we did not want the answer.

Put suggestions in suggestion boxes – not everywhere has them, but they are there to be used. And if there are none available in a health services building, then why not suggest that one gets installed?

Attend public consultation events. We will publicise these widely, so watch for adverts in papers, or posters on information boards.

Join a Patient Participation group at your GP practice – ask for one to be set up if necessary

West Oldham 68

Sit on one of the service planning groups, either as an individual or as a member of another voluntary group

Write to us if you think there is a service your community needs which we do not already provide

Take part in decisions about your own personal care (e.g. care plan, treatment for illness or condition). If you do not understand something, ask the health visitor, GP, or other health professional to explain it

Become a member of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum. This forum is independent and will involve people in all aspects of PCT activities

Bring your views to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service – see previous section

Attend the PCT board meetings – on the last Thursday of most months

More details on any of the above points are available from the PCT’s patient and public involvement manager on 0161 622 6500.

West Oldham 69 Social Care provided in West Oldham by Oldham Social Services

The numbers of people receiving support from Social Services increases and decreases throughout the year. Therefore, the figures below give an approximate number of people in Oldham receiving support from Social Services.

In Oldham, 8400 adults were receiving support in the community from Social Services. These include:

• 3200 people with mental health problems • 3100 older people • 1400 people with physical and sensory disabilities • 700 people with learning disabilities

In Oldham, approximately 1800 children and their families were receiving support from Social Services. This includes child protection, family support within the community, fostering and adoption and residential care services.

Across Oldham there are approximately:

• 1800 people registered blind or partially sighted • 2300 people were registered deaf or hard of hearing • 200 people registered deaf/hard of hearing and blind/partially sighted • 10500 people registered physically disabled

Information about Informal Carers

The 2001 Census gathered information on the provision of unpaid care. In Oldham, 23,556 people were providing unpaid care to family members, friends, neighbours or others because of long-term physical or mental ill health or disability or problems relating to old age. This is 11% of the total population of Oldham.

Provision of unpaid care in West Oldham

% of people who provide unpaid care All unpaid 1-19 hours 20-49 hours 50+ hours a care a week a week week Alexandra 10.2 5.8 1.5 2.9 Coldhurst 8.8 4.7 1.5 2.7 St. Pauls 11.3 7.3 1.5 2.5 Werneth 9.8 5.8 1.4 2.6 West Oldham 9.9 5.9 1.5 2.6

West Oldham 70 10.8 7.1 1.3 2.4 Oldham In West Oldham, 9.9% of population reported providing unpaid care, which is slightly lower than the average for Oldham. However, a greater proportion of these are providing over 50 hours a week of care compared to the Oldham average.

Social Care Provision in West Oldham

Social care is provided in a range of providers including the local authority, the private sector and voluntary agencies. It is delivered in a variety of settings including specialist establishments, community establishments and services users homes. Specialist establishments in West Oldham include:

• 26 Residential and day care establishments • 10 Children and Young Peoples Services establishments

What Is Happening Now: LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) The national NHS LIFT scheme provides the NHS with a vehicle for improving and developing primary and community care facilities. Local LIFT schemes are a joint venture between the Department of Health, the local healthcare community and the private sector. They are designed to encourage a significant increase in investment in primary care and community based facilities.

Integrated Care Centres are single sites where prevention, screening treatment and associated services combine to provide a holistic health and care service. Each one is uniquely designed – based upon the Centre of Healthcare Design Best Practice Guidelines – to address the specific needs of its local community. The schemes selected to be developed first are chosen because they utilise existing partner resources, help address the case for change, and support the LIFT vision. They are selected to represent medium and large projects, which will enable the selected private partner to be involved in the collaborative and inventive design of improved services from Oldham estate stock.

The following projects are included in the first phase of schemes:

Integrated Care Centre – Oldham Town Centre. This will be the first of four integrated care centres. The estimated cost of the building is in the order of £6.4 million.

Primary Care Centre – Werneth. This facility will comprise a six GP unit with associated health and social care facilities and will cost in the order of £1.5 million.

There are a number of specific health programmes that are promoting healthy diet and

West Oldham 71 exercise such as the Positive Health Programme in Fitton Hill and Hathershaw and Active Communities and Food First in SRB6 areas.

Teenage pregnancy is being tackled by the provision of an advice service for young people. The Cottoning On Healthy Living Initiative is a partnership project working with Black and Minority Ethnic women and young people living in Oldham's most deprived wards. Cottoning On encourages positive changes in lifestyle and improved physical and mental health through a range of projects. These include building exercise equipment in local parks, a young people's health information website (Health4me) , accredited training through the Shine Awards Scheme , health awareness sessions and training women to become Community Health Volunteers. Cottoning On also offers accredited training to young parents through the TOYS programme, works with Black and ethnic minority young men to promote mental health and offers a specialist one to one service to South Asian women with mental health needs.

There are a variety of drug related support projects provided via DAAT (Drugs and Alcohol Team)

What Will Take the Area Forward:

The establishment of health inequalities targets at a ward level is to be explored so that we can better focus upon the reduction of the gap between the poorest wards and the rest of Oldham. The PCT will be implementing a number of new initiatives to help reduce heart disease, including the development of a Lifestyle Intervention Team and a tobacco policy control.

Development of a network/bank of Lifestyle Advisors , targeting key communities and people without easy access to healthy lifestyles, on low incomes, or those with more than one CHD risk factors.

Smoking cessation initiatives will be linked to Sure Start to target women who smoke in pregnancy.

Sure Start midwives will pilot best practice in antenatal and post-natal advice on breastfeeding and develop awareness raising programmes on the health benefits of breast-feeding.

Cottoning On will be working with Sure Start Westwood and Coldhurst and Glodwick to pilot the involvement of Community Health Volunteers as lay health educators and befrienders.

Sexual health services will be developed to increase uptake by boys and young men.

West Oldham 72

Hathershaw and Fitton Hill NDC will pilot a locality HIMP (Health Improvement Plan) addressing data, provision and uptake of core services and access issues with an action plan.

A community rapid response team pilot will be undertaken in Glodwick. This will be linked to Greater Manchester Ambulance Service and provide defibrillation to people who have had a heart attack prior to ambulance arrival.

Community Nutrition Assistants will be appointed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption.

Development workers will be attached to Area Committees to engage communities, identify barriers to service access and prepare plans on an Area Committee basis for providing responsive services. The following projects have been identified as potential future schemes.

Dental Centre for Excellence – Oldham Town Centre. This scheme will form a future phase of the Town Centre Integrated Care Centre.

Integrated Care Centre – Werneth / St Paul’s. This is one of the second phase of Integrated Care Centres. The estimated cost of the project is in the order of £7 million.

New Deal for Communities is investigating the possibility of building a new health centre in Fitton Hill.

West Oldham 73 COMMUNITY SAFETY

Community Safety is one of the Priority Action Themes of the Borough’s Community Strategy. The strategy states that:

“Oldham will be a safer place in which to live and work due to a reduction in levels of crime and disorder. Residents of the Borough will not live in fear of crime.” The Action Plan for crime over the next 3 – 5 years is currently being developed and will be incorporated into the Community Strategy Implementation Plan.

The Oldham Division of Greater Manchester Police has recently undergone a restructure programme that has seen the beat boundaries re-aligned with the Local Authority Ward Boundaries. This is a positive step forward that will enhance partnership work. On the negative side, the reconfiguration of the beats means that historical data is not available at Area Committee level. More data compiled on this basis will be available at the end of the performance year 2003/04. It will not be possible to set meaningful targets at Area Committee level until this time.

The key strategy, which focuses on reducing domestic burglary, is the Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy. In particular, the work of the Property Crime Task Force is central to this activity. However, many other programmes of work complement that of Crime and Disorder to reduce burglary. These include the Drugs and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) Strategy and the Housing Market Renewal Strategy. In order for Oldham to meet Government targets, these complementary strategies need to reflect the scale of Oldham’s burglary problem.

In January 2003 the new Community Safety Unit was formed and is now an integral part of the Borough’s response to crime and disorder. A Community Safety Officer has now been appointed for each of the six areas. Activity is focused on burglary reduction and in- depth crime reduction surveys are offered to all victims of domestic burglary.

Alley -gating is also being introduced in high crime locations to reduce the incidence of domestic burglary. Added benefits include a reduction of anti -social behaviour and increased community cohesion.

Five officers are dedicated to tackling Anti-Social Behaviour and five Anti -Social Behaviour Orders have been obtained, restricting the activities of the most serious offenders.

There are currently 16 Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) working across the six Area Committee areas and a further 24 Officers have been recruited to work across the

West Oldham 74 Borough. Their role is to act as eyes and ears for the police to provide a high profile patrol with limited enforcement powers. The visible presence of the PCSOs will not only assist in reducing crime but will also help to alleviate the fear of crime.

The last financial year saw the introduction of many new initiatives involving the police and the Community Safety Unit. Excellent crime reduction activity has taken place across the Borough. The use of Smartwater technology as a burglary reduction tool has been adopted in the New Deal for Communities area. Smartwater is a property marking system that cannot be removed and is invisible to the naked eye. This renders property less desirable to potential thieves and burglars and improves the detectability of offences that do occur.

The introduction of a high profile video van that is deployed across the Borough has proved to be an effective deterrent for all forms of street crime.

A state of the art video link has been provided in the Magistrates Courts to ensure vulnerable victim and witness needs are addressed.

An Alcohol Free Zone has been introduced in the Failsworth area. The scheme coincided with increased enforcement of licensing legislation around licensed premises.

A similar scheme has been introduced within the Town Centre. Work is also ongoing to introduce a pedestrian zone in the Town Centre and both the Police and local authority are committed to reducing the incidence of violent crime within the Town Centre and its environs.

One Sergeant and four Constables are deployed exclusively within the NDC area, where a host of high profile initiatives have taken place. One example saw the deployment of a mobile police station for five weeks during which time domestic burglary was all but eradicated.

Operation Baron was a drugs enforcement operation that took place earlier in the year. It was, at the time, the largest undercover operation undertaken by GMP. As a result, 24 people were arrested for supplying controlled drugs and over £40,000 was seized, along with five high powered motor vehicles.

There has been a high level of targeted policing across all Township operations, the results of which have seen a reduction in key crimes such as burglary and robbery.

Operation Beacon is a targeted initiative aimed at known burglars within the Township and the Police are currently in the process of identifying the top ten prolific offenders. This initiative will have a significant impact upon helping to reduce the level of domestic burglary rates within the area.

West Oldham 75 A weekly review is undertaken to identify hotspots of domestic burglary in areas. The pattern of burglary activity changes so frequently it is impossible to identify relevant hotspots at the time of writing this Plan.

What Local People Say:

Many people raised concerns about the number of drug dealers in the area and theft was a major problem. Anti-social behaviour such as vandalism, youth nuisance and noise were also cited as particular worries for residents.

It was suggested that the Police could have a more visible presence so that people would feel safer.

Statistics:

Government target – reduce crime and the fear of crime; improve performance overall, including the gap between the highest Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership areas and the best comparable areas and reduce:

• vehicle crime by 30% from 1998 – 99 to 2004 • domestic burglary by 25% from 1998 – 99 to 2005 • robbery in the ten Street Crime Initiative areas by 14% from 1999 – 2000 to 2005 and maintain that level.

Performance in West Oldham

Burglary Dwelling 2002-2003 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter Total 1 st & 2 nd Quarter 2003-2004 2003-2004 2003-2004 April-June July-Sept (April-Sept.) Q1 – OLDHAM N/A 345 188 533 WEST

Q2 – OLDHAM N/A 274 164 438 EAST

Q3 – N/A 123 136 259 FAILSWORTH & HOLLINWOOD Q4 – SHAW & N/A 114 148 262 ROYTON

Q5 - N/A 102 102 204 CHADDERTON Q6 – N/A 151 99 350 SADDLEWORTH & LEES OMBC TOTAL 4371 1109 837 2046

West Oldham 76

Violent Crime (Serious Wounding + Less Serious Wounding) 2002-2003 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter Total 1 st & 2 nd Quarter 2003-2004 2003-2004 2003-2004 April-June July-Sept (April-Sept.) Q1 – OLDHAM N/A 264 239 503 WEST

Q2 – OLDHAM N/A 381 331 712 EAST Q3 – N/A 148 123 271 FAILSWORTH & HOLLINWOOD Q4 – SHAW & N/A 124 96 220 ROYTON Q5 - N/A 113 113 226 CHADDERTON Q6 – N/A 80 78 158 SADDLEWORTH & LEES OMBC TOTAL N/A 1110 980 2090

Vehicle Crime (Theft from a motor vehicle + Theft of a motor vehicle) 2002-2003 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter Total 1 st & 2 nd Quarter 2003-2004 2003-2004 2003-2004 April-June July-Sept (April-Sept.) Q1 – OLDHAM N/A 306 235 541 WEST Q2 – OLDHAM N/A 296 261 557 EAST Q3 – N/A 170 183 353 FAILSWORTH & HOLLINWOOD Q4 – SHAW & N/A 162 188 350 ROYTON Q5 - N/A 130 121 251 CHADDERTON Q6 – N/A 152 119 271 SADDLEWORTH & LEES OMBC TOTAL 5242 1216 1107 2323

West Oldham 77

Robbery 2002-2003 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter Total 1 st & 2 nd Quarter 2003-2004 2003-2004 2003-2004 April-June July-Sept (April-Sept.) Q1 – OLDHAM N/A 48 30 78 WEST Q2 – OLDHAM N/A 79 40 119 EAST

Q3 – FAILSWORTH N/A 24 25 19 & HOLLINWOOD

Q4 – SHAW & N/A 15 13 28 ROYTON

Q5 - N/A 9 16 25 CHADDERTON Q6 – N/A 6 6 12 SADDLEWORTH & LEES OMBC TOTAL 632 181 130 281

Youth Causing Annoyance (YCA) 2002-2003 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter Total 1 st & 2 nd 2003-2004 2003-2004 Quarter April-June July-Sept 2003-2004 (April-Sept.) Q1 – OLDHAM WEST N/A 420 540 960

Q2 – OLDHAM EAST N/A 607 599 1206

Q3 – FAILSWORTH & N/A 436 438 874 HOLLINWOOD Q4 – SHAW & ROYTON N/A 371 384 755

Q5 - CHADDERTON N/A 458 406 864

Q6 – SADDLEWORTH & N/A 299 317 616 LEES OMBC TOTAL N/A 2591 2684 5275

West Oldham 78

What Is Happening Now: There are a variety of drug related support projects provided via DAAT (Drugs and Alcohol Team), the Probation Service and Oldham Business Education Guidance Service. Target hardening advice and equipment is being provided in the SRB6 and NDC areas with additional CCTV in SRB6.

A Smartwater scheme has been implemented in Fitton Hill and Hathershaw which has resulted in the marking of people’s possessions to enable the return of stolen goods and apprehension of criminals.

What Will Take the Area Forward:

The establishment of the Community Safety Panel will enable the development of a more detailed plan for the area. `The Crime Reduction Officer from the Community Safety Unit will administer and support the work of the panel and ensure linkages between the Oldham West Area Committee and a variety of different forums, groups and panels.

These panels and forums include the following and all feed into the Oldham West Community Safety Panel:

The SRB6 Crime & Disorder Theme Group: Administer and manage the SRB6 Crime & Disorder Theme Group.

NDC Area Community safety panel: Support the work of the NDC Scheme and the Community Safety Steering Group.

Westwood Area: Administer and manage the Westwood Group to tackle problems associated with young people and to bridge the gap between GM police and young people.

Coldhurst Area: Support the work of the Coldhurst Community Forum.

Bardsley Area : Support the work of the Bardsley Homewatch group.

West Oldham 79 Through these panels and forums individual crime hotspots will be identified and dealt with using a problem solving approach in partnership with local people.

Priorities for the area include :

Anti social behaviour;

The use of and dealing of drugs.

Contact with victims of burglary.

Domestic security surveys.

Business security surveys.

Allocation and Management of Crime Prevention Budget.

West Oldham 80

ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORTATION

Environment and Transportation is a Priority for Action theme in Oldham’s Community Strategy. The Community Strategy vision states:

“An Oldham of clean streets and decent housing, where there are many green parks and where it is safe to play, work or sit. An Oldham of “green corridors”, open spaces and woodland, where wildlife abounds. Where leisure facilities are close to hand and affordable. An Oldham where people of different abilities and different cultures support each other and live in harmony. Where our industrial past is celebrated but we live for the future. An Oldham where all people’s opinions are acted upon and health and support services are accessible and affordable. Where traffic is reduced and public transport is less expensive, safer and more reliable providing access for everyone to the opportunities and facilities available. It is where useful employment is available and unpaid work is valued and where waste, of resources and people, is reduced.” The Environment and Transportation elements of this vision focus on:

• Conserving and enhancing the land, air and water of Oldham Borough and the wider world, together with prudent use of our global natural resources, essential for maintaining an environment that will in turn support human kind for generations to come

• The towns and villages that make up Oldham Borough need to be well designed, well built and well maintained to deliver clean, green and attractive buildings, streetscapes and open spaces

West Oldham 81 • The Borough’s transportation system needs further development to deliver genuine transport choices for local people to access employment and services, whilst minimising pollution and use of fossil fuels.

What Local People Say:

Local people were generally positive about the area. Many stated that they enjoyed living in close proximity to green spaces and Medlock Valley. They also felt that they could access local facilities and amenities quite easily as local transport was good.

They were however, unhappy about amount of litter and the appearance of the area, which they felt was dirty and untidy. Some stated that shopping facilities could be better and that pram accessible buses could be provided. What Is Good About the Area:

Oldham Town Centre with its associated communication, retail, service and entertainment assets is an opportunity.

The community is well served by transport/communication corridors – Oldham Way links to M62, the Manchester – Oldham – Rochdale railway (which is to be converted to Metrolink) and Ashton Road.

The area is well served by public transport

Access to motorway network and regional markets via A62/M60 and Oldham Way A627/M62/M60

Easy access to the countryside at Medlock Valley, Snipe Clough and Park Bridge.

The area includes major parks – Alexandra, Copsterhill and Werneth Parks.

There are attractive green belt urban fringe areas – Wood Park, Werneth Golf Course.

The area is benefiting from additional funding from SRB6 and New Deal for Communities. SRB6 has enabled the environmental improvement of Ross Street, Lee Street , Lynn Street and Monmouth play areas, Tudor Street pitch, Cambridge Street/Warwick Street (car park and games court) and retail zone improvements at Oxford Street and Werneth Hall Road.

Statistics: ROAD SAFETY

West Oldham 82 Government target – The Government’s Road Safety Strategy contains national casualty reduction targets to be achieved by 2010, in all cases compared to the average for 1994-98. The targets are: • a 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) in road traffic accidents;

• a 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured; and

• a 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate, expressed as the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres.

The targets were amended in 2002 to require unspecified greater reductions in deprived areas.

Borough target – The post-2000 targets adopted by the ten authorities for Greater Manchester in its Road Safety Strategy are as follows. (The base years are 1994-98, as for the national targets.) The figures in brackets are the national targets, as described above. It can be seen that in the first case, the GM target is more onerous than the national target. Further advice is still awaited from the Department for Transport (DfT) on the methodology for measuring the slight casualty rate at a local level before this target can be determined.

Casualties Accidents

Casualty Category Reduction by Reduction by Reduction by Reduction by (or accidents 2005 (for LTP) 2010 2005 (for LTP) 2010 involving)

Killed or seriously 37% 50% 37% 50% injured (KSI) (40%)

Children killed or 36% 50% 36% 50% seriously injured (50%)

Slight casualty rate * * * * (10%)

Pedal cyclists 17% 25% - -

West Oldham 83

Pedestrians 17% 25% - -

* denotes ‘to be determined’

Area Target It is emphasised that the national and GM targets were set on the basis that they would be applied to Highway Authority areas, in other words to the whole of Oldham Borough. There are significant difficulties in using casualty reduction targets at a smaller area level arising from the random nature of the events concerned, the fact that there are many external influences not under the control of the Council and the very small numbers involved in many cases.

Borough Performance The baseline road traffic accident casualty statistics for the Borough as a whole are given in the following table. Note that the last line refers to accidents, not casualties.

Base Latest full Target % reduction needed on year- 2002 to achieve target average 1994-98 2002 2010 Oldham GM

KSI 109 61 54 11.5 39.6

Child KSI 29 18 14 22.2 30.0

Pedal cyclists 80 40 60 On target On target

Pedestrians 272 206 204 1.0 12.4

All casualties 1371 1020 - - - (KSI’s + slights)

All accidents (KSI’s + slights) 992 750 - - -

West Oldham 84

In all cases, progress towards the 2010 target has been better in Oldham than in Greater Manchester as a whole, as indicated by the comparisons in the last two columns. Oldham is ranked second or third of the ten authorities on this basis.

West Oldham 85 Performance in West Oldham

ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CASUALTY DATA

Base - Average Latest Full Year Target 1994 - 98 2002 2010

KSI 22.2 (20.6%) 13 (21.3%) 9

Child KSI 8.0 (28.0%) 4 (22.2%) -

Pedal 18.2 (23%) 2 (5.0%) 13 cyclists

Pedestrian 80.8 (29.8%) 55 (26.7%) 57 s

All 355.8 (26.0%) 299 (29.3%) - casualties (KSI’s + slights)

All 267.6 (27.1%) 212 (28.3%) - accidents (KSI’s + slights)

Note: Percentages in brackets indicate proportion of whole Borough total.

West Oldham 86

LITTER

The street cleanliness index is measured regularly. It is a measurement made between 1 and 100 with 60 being satisfactory and 75 excellent. The performance for the Borough is:

June ’02 – 70; Feb ’03 – 76.

The Council responds to a significant number of calls per month from the West Oldham area and resources normally deployed will include a Litterbusters team of three operatives and Mechanical sweepers, although resources are moved around the Borough to meet specific needs as they arise, for instance clean-ups after events and hot spots of fly- tipping. It is not possible at this time to report on how much is spent in any one Area Committee.

There are 132 local people in the Borough who are Litterwatchers, 32 of whom live in West Oldham. They help the Council by alerting them to problems and arranging community activities.

Across the Borough the following enforcement activity took placed during 2002/03:-

TYPE OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY LEVEL OF ACTIVITY Flytipping prosecutions and formal cautions 8 Littering prosecutions and cautions 5 Litter fixed penalty notices issued 23 Dog Fouling fixed penalty notices issued 14 Legal notices waste on land 288 Other formal warning letters/informal notices 283 Total service requests for enforcement action 3010 response 98% actioned within 3 working days Warning letters to shops/sites re. street litter 30 (3 in West Oldham) control notices

There are 38 schools registered as Ecoschools in the Borough, 7 of them in West Oldham. These are Broadfield Primary, Freehold Primary, Greenhill Primary, Hathershaw Technical College, Marland Fold, Park Dean and Richmond Junior. Holy Rosary is soon to be registered. The Ecoschools programme increases the school’s general environmental performance and awareness, a major element of this is focused upon waste and litter.

West Oldham 87

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Generally, the area has a poor quality environment with specific issues relating to traffic, parking, litter, safety and vandalism.

The area contains major areas of underused/derelict land that provide major opportunities – for example Wood Park Colliery, Crossbank St, Alexandra Trading Park and vacant properties, building, land for example, Park Road Warehouse, Hartford Mill.

LOCAL CENTRES

While Oldham Town Centre provides an important focus for this area, other local centres are of importance in providing accessible facilities and services.

Featherstall Road North is emerging as an important local centre, not just for local people, but also for the wider community with the completion of the OBA Millennium Cultural Centre and cluster of restaurants.

The shopping area along Ashton Road is subject to review as part of the New Deal for Communities activities.

PARKS AND OPEN SPACES

Alexandra Park has been subject to a major programme of works via the Heritage Lottery to return it to its original Victorian splendour. These are due to finish during 2003/04. It has an active Friends of the Park group.

Werneth Park was refurbished in 1996. It is currently experiencing problems with vandalism of the bowling green and the future of the Music Rooms is to be decided. It has an active Friends of the Park group.

Westwood Park has a new play area and multi kick about area.

Copsterhill Park was refurbished in 1998 and also has a Friends of the Park group.

There are local open space deficiencies in Westwood, Freehold, Coppice, Primrose Bank, Glodwick, Hathershaw.

What Is Happening Now:

TRANSPORT

In order to address the accident hotspots in the area, the following works are to be carried out as part of the Local Safety Scheme Programme . The Local Safety Scheme aims to

West Oldham 88 achieve maximum casualty reduction from the resources available in pursuance of the adopted local targets. The projects in Oldham West are as follows:

• B6192 Frederick Street, Coppice - Traffic calming, streetscape improvements.

• A6104 Hollins Road, Hollinwood

• Cardigan Road/Frederick Street - Mini roundabouts, traffic signals, new and improved pedestrian crossings, sheltered parking, changes to waiting restrictions.

• A6048 Featherstall Road North, West Hulme - Safety camera cabinet.

• A671 Rochdale Road/St Mary’s Way, Coldhurst - Revisions to signal staging and junction layout.

• A671 Rochdale Road, Coldhurst/Chadderton Way/Featherstall Road North - Pedestrian refuges, Zebra crossing, right turn lanes.

• Werneth and Coppice Area - Modifications to existing traffic calming scheme .

• Chamber Road, Coppice and Hollinwood - Traffic calming, improvements to signing and lining, 20 mph speed limit.

• A62 Manchester Street/A627 Oldham Way, Werneth - Traffic signs and road markings, guard railing, surface treatments.

• Alton Street and Hollins Road Area - Traffic calming, waiting restrictions, 20 mph speed limit.

Funding has been secured for several regeneration programmes which include transport proposals, particularly for sustainable modes. In Oldham West, these include:

• Town Centre (ERDF) – this includes the improvement of walking and cycling routes across the by-pass and the connections with Lees Linear Park. A travel co-ordinator will also be working with Town Centre businesses to encourage them to use more sustainable means of travelling.

• Fitton Hill (NDC) – this is subject to consultation and is likely to include improvements to street lighting, car parking, road safety and links into the cycleway network.

• £20.25 million from SRB6 will be spent over a seven year period that commenced in 2000/01, which will benefit the Werneth and Hollinwood area. This area contains important public transport links between Oldham and Manchester – including the A62

West Oldham 89 Quality Bus Corridor and Metrolink proposals. The corridor has been the subject of a DETR study into how to develop corridors to promote sustainable activity.

The proposed Metrolink extension will involve converting the Oldham loop rail line together with on-street sections that will serve the Town Centre. This extension will offer high frequencies at all stops, better integration between bus and rail and between the local and national rail network at Manchester Piccadilly Station, together with levels of speed and comfort. Access to the line will be improved by locating stops closer to residential areas.

Oldham is unique in the Greater Manchester Travel Plan area as being the only Borough to benefit from Quality Bus Corridors extending in all four directions out of the Town Centre.

The Lees – Oldham – Manchester QBC is currently being implemented with a number of site specific bus priority measures

The Rochdale – Oldham – Ashton under Lyne – Hyde QBC (A671/A627) is also in the process of being implemented. This scheme is being funded by ring-fencing a 25% top- slice of Greater Manchester Minor Works settlement specifically for this work. A separate Town Centre Strategy will maximise access for all sustainable modes – providing cycle, motorcycle and disabled parking facilities – complementing initiatives such as the proposed Metrolink extension and the new Central Bus Station, to provide safer, more direct pedestrian and cycle access to the Town Centre.

One of the key policies of the Oldham Cycling Strategy, adopted in July 2002, is the creation of safer cycle routes which would provide an alternative to the main road network. A study subsequently undertaken to determine how these safer cycle routes could be provided in the Borough highlighted the need to develop an Oldham Cycle Network supplemented by Local Cycle Networks which are described below.

The Oldham Cycle Network would constitute a coherent network of strategic cycle routes that link together to provide cyclists with a safer environment to cycle within and across, the Borough boundary. The network would also incorporate sections of the National Cycle Network and would provide links to employment sites, recreation facilities, secondary schools and colleges, shopping facilities, public transport facilities and so on. The Oldham Cycle Network would be composed of sections of off-road cycle track or traffic calmed streets/quiet roads. The Oldham Cycle Network would not include the use of cycle lanes on busy main roads, as these would be considered only suitable for experienced cyclists.

West Oldham 90 Local Cycle Networks would supplement the Oldham Cycle Network by creating safer cycle routes within local residential areas through area-wide traffic calming initiatives. These local networks would provide:

• a safer cycle environment for local cycle journeys, such as to the local shop.

• a safer environment for children to cycle and play close to their home.

• feeder cycle routes to the Oldham Cycle Network.

In general, it is not practical to provide extensive networks of off-road cycle track in residential areas due to the lack of space. However, there would be a need to create short sections of off-road cycle track within residential areas in order to provide local connecting cycle routes, such as across open spaces.

The networks are currently in draft form and it is proposed to undertake an extensive consultation exercise in late 2004, to allow the networks to be fine tuned with respect to route alignments and to ensure that many local issues are taken into consideration in the network design. The identification of the Oldham Cycle Network and Local Cycle Networks will enable many sections of cycle route to be incorporated within new developments and regeneration projects. An ERDF funded project to create safer cycle routes to Oldham Town centre from ‘Priority 2’ wards will be implemented between 2003-2006.

An Air Quality Action Plan is currently being developed to address poor air quality issues within the Borough, including traffic related pollution.

LITTER

The Council has a Community Litter Plan which aims to: improve response times for the removal of litter, fly tipping, graffiti and fly posting; improve the response time for the removal of abandoned vehicles in partnership with the Police; introduce new or replacement litter bins; issue fly tipping prosecutions and cautions; issue littering fixed penalty notices, litter control notices, prosecutions and cautions; issue fixed penalty notices for dog fouling; and to develop the Eco School programme. The provision of the Street Cleaning service includes litter removal and the removal of fly- tipped and dumped waste from highways, adopted passageways and other land for which the Council is responsible under the Environmental Protection Act.

The service also removes graffiti and fly posting from public and private buildings and property, needles and sharps and dumped special wastes such as asbestos and tyres, as well as dog waste and chewing gum.

West Oldham 91

The service also removes litter and fly tipped material from privately owned land, or land that is unoccupied and seeks to recover the cost. A third of the Council’s current workload relates to removing fly tipped material from the backs of residential property, highway verges and open land.

The Council’s Street Cleaning Service is currently provided by 57 Full time Operatives.

The Budget for 2003/04 is £ 1.9m and the Service has been successful in attracting external funding for Street Cleaners funded by NRF, NDC and SRB6.

The service's workload includes-

• street cleaning of over 825 kilometres of roads • cleansing of verges and adjoining landscaped areas • the regular emptying of over 1400 litter bins • responding to over 5500 requests for litter removal and street cleaning • removing over 160 tonnes of fly-tipped material each week • a constant presence in town centres • eight "dandyperson" each covering 25 miles per week on main shopping roads • installing over 100 new litter bins, including sponsored bins each year • litterbusting teams make over 100 trips to the tip each week • will fill 10,000 bags of rubbish each year • full scale site clearances • assist over 10 community clear-ups

The service strives to achieve the targets set out in the Community Litter Plan 2002-2005 and carries out six monthly Cleanliness Surveys, to monitor standards and deploy resources. Against a scale of 1 to 100, the lower the score, the dirtier the streets. These are reported on Boroughwide and by Area Committee area.

The Environmental Action Unit is a team of three Officers who investigate litter and fly tipping with a view to taking enforcement action wherever possible against offenders who drop litter and fly tip within the Borough. The Unit deals with over 3,000 requests per year and, in addition, undertakes patrols to identify offenders and issue fixed penalty notices for littering or allowing their dogs to foul in public areas.

The Council has a Statutory Duty to keep the streets and other public places clear of litter and refuse and a Code of Practice sets out the response time for cleaning an area that has become littered.

West Oldham 92 Deploying Resources

The underlying principle of the legislation governing litter collection is that the dirtier and most densely populated areas should be cleansed the quickest.

The service is flexible and responsive and operates within available resources. In responding to over 600 one off calls per month, the Council no longer carries out schedules and frequency based cleansing.

The Council has a permanent Mon-Friday presence in Town centres and main road shopping areas, with eight Dandy people. There are Main road and Principal side road teams which carry out mechanical sweeping and litter picking and Litterbusting teams responding to calls for clean ups, fly tipping and sweeping. There are Specialist teams dealing with Graffiti, flyposting and hazardous wastes like asbestos, tyres and so on, as well as a two teams emptying litter bins.

Area Committees are being consulted about how they would like to prioritise street cleaning in their area.

Current Proposals for Additional Resources

• The Council has employed a further 24 litter street cleaners.

••• More mechanisation for footpath sweeping patrols to remove silt and dirt.

••• Shift working patterns to provide more early morning and evening and weekend cleansing, and greater use of mechanical equipment outside normal working hours.

Individually, or as organised Groups You can help us by:

• Being tidy with your litter and chewing gum • Use litter-bins and encourage others to use them • Recycle paper, bottles, cans, clothing and household furniture • Using free civic amenity refuse tips • Not leaving your dog's mess for others • Use a Waste collection service for your business • Arranging a community clean-up with your neighbours-contact Peter Rafferty on 0161 911 4434

Neighbourhood Renewal Funding is being used in the Fast Track Removal of Abandoned Vehicles Pilot scheme, to speed up the removal of abandoned vehicles. It also funds the Bulky Household Waste Collection service, which collects unwanted

West Oldham 93 bulky household items from residents without charge. This reduces illegal tipping and as much re-usable and recyclable waste as possible is salvaged to improve the Borough’s recycling and re-use performance.

The existing newspaper and magazine recycling scheme is to be extended to cover a wider range of materials including green waste. Householders will be provided with new containers for the collection scheme as part of a programme from (dates to be agreed). This extends the current scheme that is already operating in Glodwick and Coldhurst.

The SRB6 area benefits from the services of a Clear Up Team that helps clean communal areas and the gardens of tenanted properties and a Smarter Streets initiative that provides an intense cleansing, enforcement and education programme. Fitton Hill and Hathershaw have a Community Solutions Team that provide additional street cleaning, education and awareness activities.

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Further development and enhancement of Oldham Town Centre, such as the development of South Union Street and the extension of the resurfacing of High Street (see Economy and Employment chapter).

The Housing Market Renewal programme and the transfer of Fitton Hill to housing association management with their associated improvements to environmental quality will begin – see the Housing chapter.

The development of industrial land available at Crossbank St, Park Road, Westwood will be pursued

Environmental improvements associated with the upgrade of the rail line to Metrolink operation

LOCAL CENTRES

Further work will be commissioned to investigate the improvement of the shopping areas on Ashton Road .

Major physical developments within Fitton Hill and Hathershaw, including Hathershaw Community Centre, One Stop Advice Centre, nursery, health facilities and new primary school.

PARKS AND OPEN SPACES

Snipe Clough will undergo a 3 year programme of improvements from Autumn 2003 to make the area more safe and attractive.

Ongoing projects to improve and promote Medlock Valley

West Oldham 94 Further improvements to Glodwick Lows

Improvements to multi games area at Copsterhill Park after consultation with local people.

Completion of improvements to Alexandra Park.

Establishment of Friends of the Park Group at Westwood Park. Need to address the problems of abuse to the bowling greens and the refurbishment of the buildings.

A variety of improvements are to be made as part of the New Opportunities Fund “Transforming Your Space” during a three year programme beginning in Autumn 2003 under the themes of play, recreation and open space across the West Oldham Area. Projects under the programme will include:

Provision of a skate board park in Fitton Hill/ Hathershaw;

Improvement of cycleways and landscaping in Fitton Hill/ Hathershaw;

Improvement of play areas at Milne Street and Primrose Bank.

What Will Take the Area Forward:

Capitalise on the opportunities provided to improve environmental quality by the Oldham Economic Development Zone, the development of South Union Street and the building of Metrolink.

Ensuring appropriate and good quality development, particularly in the Town Centre and its fringes

Transforming communication corridors – particularly Manchester and Ashton Roads

Using the Housing Market Renewal programme to achieve a high quality environment and to tackle problems associated with vacant/derelict properties

Tackling issues within neighbourhoods – crime and disorder, litter and vandalism, traffic, maintenance of streets and public places, lack of facilities, for children and young people.

Building upon good community relationships within individual neighbourhoods to achieve consensus and generate a sense of pride in the area

Capitalising on environmental assets such as Alexandra Park, Snipe Clough, Medlock Valley, and Werneth Park

Refurbishment of Werneth Music Rooms

Using the development of Metrolink to benefit local areas.

West Oldham 95 Using the renewed focus provided by the completion of the OBA Millennium Cultural Centre to further develop and promote Featherstall Road as a local centre.

ECONOMY AND EMPLOYMENT

Economy is a Priority for Action theme within Oldham’s Community Strategy. The Strategy states:

“To create a Borough of well-educated people who have available good quality opportunities for employment and self-employment. To create a vibrant, diverse and sustainable local economy which offers fullest and equal opportunity for all and a healthy and secure local, social and economic environment.”

In addition to this vision, the Community Strategy contains a number of Strategic Objectives and Priorities with regard to the economy. These have been informed by the recommendations of the Oldham Independent Review and the detailed response published in June 2002. These have been refined further following a series of consultative events with the local business and residential communities. Targets under this theme remain to be established.

There are a number of facilities and developments in Oldham Town Centre that are of strategic importance to all areas of the Borough. These include the Oldham Business Management School that provides support and training for any business in the Borough.

What is Good About the Area:

An expanding Town Centre that is offering a range of services including retail, with a growing commercial, leisure and arts focus.

Good transport infrastructure provided by good highway links to the motorway network (A627M/M62/M60).

Improved public transport with the newly opened Bus Station .

Oldham Business Management School

Major established employers include:

Park Cake Bakery

Oldham NHS

Oldham MBC

Dew Pitchmastic

Zetex Plc

West Oldham 96 SSL International

Retail Town Centre

A range of regeneration schemes including the EDZ, SRB6 and NDC are available to support investment in the area.

There is potential to strengthen the Town Centre’s sub-regional role as a centre for economic, social and cultural activity.

There is the potential to exploit the economic opportunities of the gateway entrance provided by the A627M motorway link particularly along the Chadderton Way corridor.

A potential development opportunity site is provided by the land released as a result of the abandonment of the railway following the construction of the “on street” Town Centre section of Metrolink.

Statistics:

Government target – Over the three years to Spring 2006, increase the employment rates of the disadvantaged areas and groups, taking account of the economic cycle- lone parents, ethnic minorities, people aged 50 and over, those with the lowest qualifications and the 30 local authority districts with the poorest initial labour market position and significantly reduce the difference between their employment rates and the overall rate.

Borough targets - The following range of employment performance targets have been proposed for the Borough.

Table 1

Indicator Baseline Position Target Position

% of population aged 16-74 Area Average 45.3% Increase the number of people in years who are employed employment in the Area. Source:GM Research/NOMIS, Borough Average 59% July 2003)

% of long term unemployed rate Area Average 8.5% Reduce the number of long term Source:GM Research/NOMIS, unemployed. July 2003) Borough Average 10.1%

Youth Unemployment Rate (16- Area Average 13.1% Reduce the gap between the 19 year olds) Area and the Borough average. Source:GM Research/NOMIS, Borough Average 8.2% July 2003) The following indicators can also be found in Tables 7 and 8 in Appendix 3

West Oldham 97

Table ii: Total Unemployment Rate

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0 Area St. Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

Table iii: Long Term Unemployment Rate

9.5

9

8.5

8

7.5

7 Area St. Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

Table iv: Youth Unemployment Rate

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Area St. Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

West Oldham 98

Table v: Number of Households Receiving Benefits

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Area St. Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

Table vi: People of a Pensionable Age in Receipt of Pensioner Premium Income Support

50

40

30

20

10

0 Area St. Paul's Coldhurst Werneth Alexandra

There are large areas of industrial/commercial property that date back to the late 19 th Century, have poor access and are located too close to residential property.

There is a lack of skilled employees.

The funding provided to a number of key projects by Welfare to Work will cease at the end of March 2004. This may leave a gap in essential service provision if they cannot be mainstreamed into other services.

What Is Happening Now:

The Town Centre is the focus of a number of regeneration initiatives aimed at increasing the range of retail, business and leisure activities. These include:

West Oldham 99 Extension of the retail core by the development of the former Clegg Street Bus Station site and The Old Town Hall.

Development of the South Union Street site for a major retail development including Sainsbury’s supermaket.

Expansion of the Business Quarter south of Union Street/ Brunswick Street area.

An extension to the Bus Station on the West Street site.

Proposals to consider the future of the Northern Town centre area.

The development of a cluster of creative industries around the Cultural Quarter.

There are also redevelopment/regeneration opportunities arising from the designation of an Economic Development Zone to the south of the Town Centre.

Key sites benefiting from these proposals include:

The Crossbank Street area which has potential for business purposes.

Land adjacent to Wellington Way.

Vacant or under utilised property in the Rhodes Bank area.

Redevelopment of the Alexandra Retail Park and the Park Road Warehouse for a mixed retail and commercial scheme.

Sites in East Oldham around Mumps station.

Economic proposals arising from the Hathershaw/Fitton Hill NDC including:

Refurbishment of Maple Mill

Refurbishment of Borough Mill

Redevelopment proposals around the Belgrave Mill complex

Improvements along the Ashton Road corridor

Further economic development opportunity sites lie along the A62 as it runs through the SRB “Route to Renaissance” area. These sites are largely allocated as Primary Employment Zones and have been identified as sites for Business Improvement providing opportunities for growth.

There are a number of Borough-wide employment and business initiatives that benefit the area:

Support for entrepreneurs to establish new businesses with specific support for

West Oldham 100 women;

Opportunities for entrepreneurs to share experience with further and higher education providers;

Support for the creation of high value added businesses;

Business support for SME’s (small and medium enterprises) including technology development, identification of technological training needs, increasing productivity and competitiveness, advice on health and safety/security and equal opportunities, research and information and improving environmental management;

The development of incubation units for media and technology enterprises . Development activities in the cultural sector to provide experience and access to employment in the sector;

Development of an Asian Business Association;

Support can be provided for people who are seeking training and employment by Oldham Community Economic Development Agency. A wage subsidy scheme for construction is also available;

Development of tourism based industries;

The Lone Parents Into Work project, funded by Welfare to Work Plus and run by Opportunities for Women, provides a holistic service of guidance, information, training and support to assist lone parents into paid and voluntary work, further education and training. There are also a number of initiatives that are taking place within West Oldham only (but they have wider benefits for the whole Borough);

Routes to Employment provides residents in the area with support to secure training and employment;

A variety of projects that help to support and further develop the voluntary and community sector as a means of developing community enterprise and the social economy;

The Moving Into the World of Work project and also the development of Intermediate Labour Market initiatives so that people can be provided with additional support to develop skills and access employment opportunities;

The provision of additional support for people who find it harder to access employment, such as disabled people, women and people from minority ethnic groups;

New Roots to Music is a project that is providing opportunities for young people to develop their skills for a career in music;

West Oldham 101 There are a number of initiatives within the SRB6 area aimed at regeneration including schemes for business improvement grants, business start up, business support and environmental efficiency.

Similarly, schemes in Fitton Hill and Hathershaw aim to support the development of new businesses, improve the environment around business premises, provide support for local people via training and mentoring; and invest in the redevelopment of industrial areas.

What Will Take the Area Forward:

The visioning work being carried out by Urbed and the masterplanning of the Town Centre, will provide strong strategic direction for future development and the generation of new employment opportunities.

The area will benefit significantly with the introduction of the Metrolink and its penetration into the Town Centre, improving access to jobs and increased visitors to the town.

There is a need to assemble key development opportunity sites. This may involve bringing together fragmented ownerships, identifying and addressing infrastructure and access constraints and marketing development opportunities.

The delivery of key sites within the Town Centre, close to proposed Metrolink stations and along radial routes should be an initial priority.

Worn out infrastructure and access to industrial/commercial properties should be upgraded.

In considering new economic development opportunities, careful attention should be paid to:

the quality of design achieved,

the type of jobs created, and

the take up of jobs by local residents.

Projects funded by external funding that prove to be effective need to be mainstreamed.

Linking current and future employment needs that are within easy access, with training opportunities and appropriate support mechanisms, to enable local people to take advantage of the opportunities.

Involving local people in the employment opportunities that arise from regeneration activities, for example, construction jobs.

West Oldham 102

VOLUNTARY SECTOR

Voluntary, Community and Faith Groups

A large proportion of people across West Oldham are involved in voluntary, community and faith groups. Many of them play an essential role in the work and activities detailed in the other chapters of this Plan. This ranges from the delivery of services for local people to providing mutual support for their members.

The collective views of the voluntary and community sector are expressed through Voluntary Action Oldham (VAO), the representative body for the sector. Oldham Development Agency for Community Action (ODACA) is the development body which seeks to enhance the capacity of the sector and strengthen individual member groups. VAO and ODACA work with the Interfaith Forum to provide the central representative and development functions for all voluntary, community and faith groups across the Borough. Together they help produce strategic contributions across all issues that the people of Oldham face. They do this through the Community Network.

The vision of Voluntary Action Oldham is:

“ a prosperous Borough that has tackled social exclusion and whose communities have the capacity to influence decisions about the quality of life. A Borough where the collective view of the voluntary and community organisations is included in the strategic decision making processes that affect the lives of everyone who visits, lives or works in Oldham”.

Their priorities for the Borough are:

• Community cohesion and equal opportunities for all

• Capacity building to increase the self-determination of communities and influence decisions that affect their lives

• Combating social and economic exclusion

• To work to ensure all consultation with voluntary, community and faith groups is thorough, realistic, effective, inclusive and respected

• To develop a Volunteers Strategy for the Borough

• To develop community transport services to meet the needs of the Borough

West Oldham 103 • To work towards the principles of social inclusion and equal opportunities for all and to promote racial equality throughout Oldham’s voluntary and community sector • To aim to ensure that voluntary, community and multiracial/multicultural groups are active and equal partners in Oldham’s framework of influence

• To develop a strong voice for the sector through an accountable and inclusive partnership which represents umbrella and individual groups

• To be proactive in identifying issues affecting the voluntary, community and faith groups

The Community Network of VAO, ODACA and the Interfaith Forum has developed a series of Panels and Networks that that will help influence the themes in this Plan. They are:

The Housing and Neighbourhoods Panel, who have worked to re-establish Oldham’s Housing Forum so a wide range of groups from the voluntary, community and faith sector can participate in developing housing strategy for all households of the Borough. They have also secured resources for a team of people to help local groups draw together ideas for the renewal of their area. This Panel will also be carrying forward ideas for what the Area Based Community Empowerment Structure should look like (see community empowerment section that relates to this).

The Economy and Regeneration Panel has been keeping an involvement in the work of the LSP in developing a vision and the practical means for renewing the economy and physical infrastructure of Oldham. They have also been generating ideas as to how the voluntary, community and faith sector can be best involved in these Borough-wide and longer-term issues of regeneration and building the local economy.

The work of the Health and Social Care Panel is to ensure that the strengths and needs of Oldham are taken seriously within the renewal plans. They have been involved in the planning for the building of some of the new Health facilities of the Borough (through the LIFT process). They are also seeking to ensure that there is effective public and patient involvement in improving the health and social care of people in Oldham. They are currently involved in addressing the three-year Strategy for Health in the Borough.

The Environment Forum is carrying forward a range of very practical ideas for the improvement of the sustainability agenda for Oldham as well as improving the physical appearance of the Borough. They are also working through how to put Agenda 21 into action across the Borough.

The Community Cohesion Panel has engaged each of the strategic bodies in the voluntary, community and faith sector to address the cohesion issues of Oldham with their

West Oldham 104 collective strength and skill. They have a programme that includes Borough-wide mediation processes, training of local people in facilitation and mediation skills, resource production, building partnerships on this theme across the Borough and helping to coordinate activities to carry forward the agenda. The Training and Learning Panel has been established to identify training needs, providers and courses within the sector. There is an ODACA/ CETO Training Co-ordinator who co-ordinates and acts upon that information.

The Children and Young People Panel has recently been formed. It will be the Borough- wide body to represent all the voluntary, community and faith sector organisations in relation to strategy and resource allocation at cross sector level. The panel will also work closely with the Children and Youth Alliance that is developing ways to help co-ordinate and support children and youth provision within West Oldham.

VAO and ODACA have plans to create a Community Safety Panel but this will be once the Area Community Empowerment Strategy is more established. (See Community Empowerment section about this work)

There is also a plan to set up an Art, Leisure and Sports Panel in due course.

Alongside the work of the Panels, four other aspects of the Community Network have been developed over the last year: the Black and Minority Ethnic Network , the Women’s Network and the Youth Empowerment Process. Each of these has increased the representation of ‘need to reach’ groups within the participation structures of the Borough. There is still a great deal that needs to be done to strengthen this representation and ensure that it is sustainable. Other ‘need to reach’ groups also need to be engaged, such as the elderly, disabled, those with learning difficulties, gays and lesbians and asylum seekers amongst others.

For more information contact VAO or ODACA, c/o 37 Greaves Street, Oldham OL1 1TJ E- mail: [email protected] Tel: 0161 633 3584 or the Interfaith Workers Forum at Rear of 317 Waterloo Street, Oldham, OL4 1ER

West Oldham 105

West Oldham 106 ARTS, LEISURE AND CULTURE

Arts provision in Oldham is designed, marketed and delivered to meet the needs of specific audiences, usually on a Borough-wide basis. Arts activities and cultural events take place in the most appropriate venue for the target audience and this is determined by size, availability, physical and cultural access. In general terms, arts provision takes two forms: events (either interactive workshops or performances) designed to engage the target audience and taking place at an appropriate, accessible location; and arts activities happening in the community, either in response to requests from community groups who wish to undertake their own arts projects, or as part of an outreach programme.

Similarly, sport and recreation is provided on a Borough-wide basis by a range of agencies. In addition to a wide range of sports clubs, recreation provision is made available through a range of pools, sports halls and synthetic pitches by Oldham Community Leisure Ltd, who operate and manage these facilities on behalf of the Council. Community sport and recreation provision is made available free of charge on school sites and a range of public open spaces in all areas of the Borough by the Education and Cultural Services Sports Development team.

Sport, recreation and the arts can and do, bring people together to share positive cultural and learning experiences and contribute significantly to cross cultural understanding. Many activities are designed with this aim. However, there are few outdoor or indoor venues in the Borough which are seen as safe and accessible to a wide range of people and can accommodate significant infrastructure and a large number of participants. Thus, much of the activity takes place in the cultural quarter and town centre as well as parks, schools and sports centres.

Arts and Culture

Oldham is noted for having one of the liveliest entertainment calendars in the North West, incorporating comedy, dance, children’s and adults’ theatre productions and music events, spanning a range of traditions from brass to bhangra, as well as major annual events such as Festival Oldham, the Kite Festival, Rickshaw Grandprix, Out-of-the-City music festival, Walton Festival and the Oldham Mela and Diwali celebrations. 2003 will see the first Urban Music Seminar in Oldham. This three day national event, which showcases the very best in urban music and attracts thousands from across the country, has relocated to Oldham initially for three years.

Gallery Oldham presents a varied and accessible programme of exhibitions incorporating the Borough’s extensive collections of art, social and natural history, national touring

West Oldham 107 exhibitions and specially commissioned work. The exhibitions are complemented by a programme of events, performances and artist led workshops for all ages.

Saddleworth Museum in Uppermill is housed in a former mill building, located next to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, which has been recently restored to through navigation. The Museum is operated by a charitable trust and not only reflects the history of the Saddleworth villages, but also mounts exhibitions and events in a purpose built extension.

Oldham Theatre Workshop has a national reputation for providing high quality drama and performance opportunities for young people of all ages and abilities. Recently relocated to the Cultural Quarter, Theatre Workshop operates from a range of venues across the Borough including theatres, schools, youth and community centres.

The Oldham Music Service also has a national reputation for nurturing the musical talent of young people in Oldham schools. It provides a wide range of musical groups and choirs and organises a wide range of performances throughout the year. Many people in the area find outlets for their theatrical and musical talents through the range of brass bands, choirs and amateur operatic and theatrical societies, which proliferate in the Borough.

Oldham Coliseum Theatre is recognised regionally and nationally and regularly wins critical and popular acclaim for its productions and for a range of associated events and activities. The Coliseum has been a recipient of the Regional Theatre of the Year Award and its productions, particularly its annual pantomime, draw audiences from across the region. The Theatre is also seeking, in collaboration with Peshkar Productions, to develop opportunities for a range of people, particularly those from Asian heritage backgrounds, to experience theatre and to participate in and involve themselves in productions.

In addition to the above, the Saddleworth area of the Borough stages the Whit Friday Band Contest, which attracts brass bands from across the country to contests in all the local villages and the annual Rush Cart Festival organised by Saddleworth Morris Men in August. Both events attract thousands of visitors.

Heritage

The history of Oldham during the nineteenth century is one of dramatic change, from obscure Pennine village to cotton spinning capital of the world. Oldham’s fascinating industrial history includes hatting, coal mining, textile machinery manufacture and cotton spinning. Oldham’s recent history has seen the development of new industries to replace cotton and the integration of new cultural traditions and religions.

Gallery Oldham has extensive collections relating to the social and industrial history of the Borough and makes them accessible through exhibitions, touring shows, school and community loans and the Gallery’s collections website. Discrete projects such as Oldham

West Oldham 108 Voices will contribute to a contemporary archive of life in Oldham. This partnership project between Gallery Oldham and Oldham Race Equality Partnership (OREP) will be recording on audio tape and video the personal experiences of Oldhamers, young and old, living in the multi-cultural Borough since the 1950’s and will provide valuable material for the development of Phase III of the Cultural Quarter. In preparation for the development of Phase III, Gallery Oldham and Oldham Local Studies and Archives will also be researching historical themes and consulting residents of the Borough on what they would like to experience in a new combined museum and local studies service.

There is also an emerging Civic Society which aims to: promote civic pride and high standards of planning and architecture; raise awareness of and secure the protection and development of, features of historic or public interest; undertake research and educate on matters relating to the built environment and urban planning across Oldham.

Libraries, Information and Archives

The library service in Oldham is provided across the Borough through a network of 14 libraries and one mobile library, which serves areas which have no static branch library provision. The service provides a wide range of books, CDs, videos and DVDs for adults and children alike, together with free access to IT and the Internet and office systems. It also delivers basic skills and ICT training in partnership with the Lifelong Learning Service.

The library service also provides a wide ranging information service for the community, together with a talking book service for people with a visual impairment, a Home Library Service which makes provision for people who are housebound or unable to use a static library and homework and health collections in every library.

In addition, the local history and archives service collects and preserves a wide range of manuscripts, documents, photographs, books, council material and genealogical information which reflects the history and development of all parts of the Borough.

The library service is also responsible for the provision of tourist information to visitors and residents alike, from Tourist Information Centres in central Oldham and Saddleworth Museum in Uppermill.

A new Library and Lifelong Learning Centre is currently in the process of development. This will be constructed at the rear of Gallery Oldham and will provide an increased level of books and ICT for all residents of the Borough.

A list of facilities offered by the Library Service can be found in Appendix 6

West Oldham 109

Lifelong Learning Service

The Lifelong Learning Service works in partnership with the Sports Development Service, Libraries, Information and Archives Service, the Gallery, Museum and Arts Service, other Council Services, the Colleges and the voluntary and statutory sectors to deliver cultural and lifelong learning activities for the benefit of individuals and local communities.

Through it’s Widening Participation Strategy, the following strands of development have been identified:

• Health, • Sports and Leisure • Arts • Family Learning

Partnership projects have been developed around these themes to engage learners and to empower local communities.

Sport and Recreation

Oldham Community Leisure Ltd.

Oldham Community Leisure Ltd is an Independent Industrial and Provident Society which manages and operates a range of facilities on behalf of the Council in locations across the Borough.

These include five indoor sports halls, seven swimming pools, one running track and five floodlit synthetic pitches. These facilities make provision for a wide range of sporting activities for the public, clubs, community groups and schools. In addition, some of these facilities also provide fitness suites.

Part of the core brief of Oldham Community Leisure is to produce, with the assistance of consultants, a comprehensive Community Leisure and Facilities Strategy for the Borough.

Sports Development

Oldham Sports Development

West Oldham 110 The Education and Cultural Services Department includes a sports development team which aims to stimulate, increase and maintain lifelong participation in sport and recreation across all areas of the Borough.

The Sports Development team provide a range of activities which include:

Community Sport Development - Three geographically based officers who provide the community development of sport and recreation. They also have the responsibility for sport specific development, creation of sporting pathways, diversity through sport and youth activity programmes across the Borough.

Open for Action – Provision of all year round activity for 9 – 13 year olds across the whole of the Borough, using schools as venues. It also aims to further develop holiday sports programmes, provide community cohesion events, develop child friendly sports clubs, develop sports volunteers, provide coach education programmes and support the Council within its improvement plan.

Unity Sport – Provides an out of school community cohesion programme for 9 – 11 year olds which currently involves three sports and brings together children from throughout the Borough’s primary schools to participate in sport together. The programme is funded through Neighbourhood Renewal and links some 40 schools across the Borough.

School Swimming – Delivers a swimming programme to 85 primary, 4 special and 8 secondary schools from across the Borough. It is also involved in the delivery of curriculum, the organisation and running of primary, secondary and special swimming heats/championships/leagues.

Youth Sport and School Sport – Activities that are delivered include the free Borough- wide coaching programmes for Team Oldham’s Greater Manchester Youth Games Teams, training courses for teachers, support to schools, support for the development of sports colleges, school coaching programmes, mini sports festivals, school to club links and the roll out of the national PE, School Sport and Club Links Strategy.

NOF PE & School Sport – Attracted £3.36 million external funding for the development of school facilities at the Castleshaw Centre, Radclyffe School, Hathershaw School, Counthill School and the development of Primary school playgrounds.

What is Good About the Area: The access to Medlock Valley

Access to the various facilities offered in the town centre and local community centres such as the OBA Millennium Cultural Centre.

West Oldham 111

Libraries at Fitton Hill and in the town centre.

Hathershaw Coaching Centre

Greenhill Hockey Coaching Centre.

What is Happening Now:

Arts & Culture

There are currently a number of arts initiatives, some of which are long term, operating in the Fitton Hill and Hathershaw areas. These involve the Museums, Galleries and Arts Service working in partnership with other agencies such as the Youth Inclusion Project and the Primary Care Trust.

A wide range of innovative projects have been developed to engage the target audience in the arts and give them hands-on experience of practical arts activities, as well as increasing their opportunities for employment in the cultural sector. Projects include a Percussion Academy and DJ School , a mentoring programme at Gallery Oldham, carnival development activities and a young people’s arts club. Large scale family friendly activities supported by Creative Opportunities, such as 2003 Spring Thing which brought over 9,000 people to the Cultural Quarter, provide free, accessible entertainment for families during school holiday periods.

Heritage

The Gallery and Museum Service has extensive collections relating to the social and industrial history of the Borough and makes them accessible through exhibitions, touring shows, school and community loans and the Gallery’s collections website.

Documents, photographs and publications reflecting the history of Oldham, together with archives relating to the area, are collected and preserved at the Local History Library on Union Street, part of the Library, Information and Archives Service.

In addition, Oldham Historical and Antiquarian Society and the Hathershaw Historical Society are active in preserving and stimulating interest in the local history of the neighbourhood and interesting people in its study and use.

Libraries

There are three static libraries, which serve the area and in addition, the mobile library serves parts of the Werneth area. These libraries include Fitton Hill with almost 31,000

West Oldham 112 visitors per year, Northmoor with approximately 30,000 visits and Oldham Library which is used by 217,000 visitors per annum.

Fitton Hill and Northmoor Libraries provide access to a wide range of books, information and other materials for adults and young people of all ages. They also provide free access to ICT and to the Internet, together with homework collections and facilities, health related collections, local information and information on employment including Worktrain.

Oldham Library is the major library in the Borough and provides a full range of lending, reference and study facilities embracing a wide range of materials and formats which reflect the multi-cultural nature of the Borough.

The libraries also offer, in co-operation with the Lifelong Learning Service, a number of basic skills and IT training courses both in English and in the languages used by the communities in the Borough.

Sport and Recreation

Oldham Community Leisure Ltd operates a number of sports facilities in the area. Amongst those is Hathershaw School Sports Centre which provides 5-a-side indoor soccer, indoor cricket nets, netball and trampoline.

The trust also manages the community use of Oldham Sixth Form College Sports Centre with 5-a-side soccer, fitness suite, dance studio and two squash courts. It also manages community use of the synthetic pitch at Grange School and Glodwick Pool, which was purpose built to accommodate people with mobility problems through its walk in/walk out shallow end. The pool has proved to be a valuable community asset.

In addition, the Chapel Road synthetic pitch also provides services to the area.

Sports Development

With the assistance of SRB6 and New Deal for Communities, Oldham Sports Development operates two community sports projects, one in the Hathershaw Fitton Hill area and the other in Werneth and Freehold. The officers in these posts have the remit of developing fit and healthy communities, improving the level of sport provision and supporting the development of sustainable sports structures in their respective areas.

In addition, the Sports Development Service, which is managed by the Education and Cultural Services Department, operates a range of provision in the area. This includes:

West Oldham 113 • School Swimming programme operates across 99% of Primary schools and the majority of special and secondary schools. • Hathershaw Secondary School’s hockey Indoor League • In-school Hockey/tennis coaching • Community Sports Leaders Award Course (Failsworth Community Centre) • 8-17 year age group Holiday Programme – sites at Hathershaw School and Grange School. • Greenhill Hockey Coaching Centre • Hathershaw Coaching Centre • Hockey/Tennis/Cricket/Lacrosse/Netball/Girls’ Football in school coaching • Local development group activities • Netball Club at Hathershaw Sports Centre • 3 Football Clubs in Fitton Hill, 1 with girls teams plus other sports • Greater Manchester Youth Games activities throughout the area – activity programmes in a selection of most of the major Active Sports • Coach Education courses at Hathershaw Sports Centre • New Deal for Communities Football Tournament – JJB Soccerdome • Swimming Sessions for people with disabilities – Glodwick Pool • Women only swimming sessions at Glodwick Pool • The Unity Sports programme operates involving schools within this area – currently involves 40 plus schools. This is an excellent example of good practice for community cohesion

What Will Take the Area Forward:

The development of the new Library and Lifelong Learning Centre will have a major impact upon the provision of services to the public and will extend the Cultural Quarter.

A leisure pool needs to be developed somewhere within the Borough, preferably adjacent to a motorway junction. There is no other provision of this kind in the area.

A new service needs to be developed alongside the 9-13 Open for Action scheme. The service could target 13-19 year olds and offer free, local, accessible sport and recreation to the community. The service would need to work alongside the Youth Service to offer a recreational and sporting outlet. Other partners would include the police, Connexions, tenants and residents associations, local clubs and schools. Funding would need to be identified. The service would cost approximately £300,000 per year.

Mainstream funding needs to be sought to sustain the Unity Sport programme.

Northmoor Library needs to be replaced with a larger facility capable of meeting the ICT and homework needs of the young people in the area.

West Oldham 114

A new static library needs to be developed in the Werneth, Freehold, Hollinwood area to meet local needs and the Public Library Standards.

The Community Leisure and Facilities Strategy being provided by Oldham Community Leisure, under the terms of its contract with the Council, will guide the provision of sports facilities and activities for the Borough in the future.

West Oldham 115 Action Plan: What will take the area forward:

(The first partner listed in the end column to be the lead partner)

Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed Aim: Community Cohesion – To promote community cohesion to create a town where there is a common vision and a sense of belonging for all communities, where the diversity of backgrounds is appreciated and positively valued, where people from different backgrounds have similar life opportunities and where strong and positive relationships are developed between people from different backgrounds. To provide and The continuation of Current NRF Education encourage the Unity Sports funding for this and Cultural programme runs participation in Programme which Services out an the end of cultural, creative and brings schools March 2004. Sports sporting activities for together from Further funding Development local people, groups different from NRF is Primary and and communities. communities using required. Urgent Secondary Council priority as sport as a tool to stated in the Schools promote improvement plan. Greater community Manchester cohesion. (also in Funded through Police the Council Sports Sports Clubs improvement plan) Development Sport budget. Specific Provide coaching Increased costs Development programmes across of the mini Groups the community that Greater lead to an Oldham games needs to team participating in be considered Manchester the Greater £1000 Sports Manchester Youth Partnership Games To provide high Provide a schools Funded through Education quality cultural sports coaching Sports and Cultural creative and sport programme and Development Services education improve budget. Sports programmes school/club links Development throughout the Primary and Borough. Secondary schools School Sport Coordinators To widen Develop a range of Current NRF Sports sporting opportunities funding for this

West Oldham 116 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed participation in for young people on programme (OPEN Development cultural, creative and school sites with each FOR ACTION) runs Schools Area Committee out at the end of sport activities by boundary March 2004. making them Further funding accessible. from NRF is required. Urgent Council priority as stated in the improvement plan.

To organise inter Develop Additional Sports school sports and infrastructure to funding of Development cultural events support Greater £1000 needs to Primary . Manchester mini be found. Schools games Sports Clubs

To engender Bring communities This Sports community spirit and together through programme is Development social cohesion holiday sports tied into the Oldham through leisure, programmes and Open for Action Community reducing anti-social the Greater programme. Leisure Ltd behaviour and Manchester Youth Funding from Youth improving quality of Games. NRF runs out in Service life. March 2004. Parks and Promote parks and Further funding Countryside open spaces as needs to be Countryside places for events, found to Ranger social interaction maintain this Service and the exceptionally Friends of development of successful Parks Groups community spirit. programme. Also specifically highlighted in the Councils Improvement Plan

Devise audience Audiences Local venues in Oldham Arts development attending varied rural areas & programme of programmes Events/ACE- events via Rural crossing several art NW

West Oldham 117 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed Touring Network forms Community groups

Aim: Well cared for, healthy community To contribute to a well cared for, healthy community by using cultural activities to aid community safety and to promote physical and mental health by increasing levels of fitness, self esteem and confidence. To create opportunities for Deliver the school Buy back Education more young children to be swimming programme service from and Culture involved in the benefits of schools Sports an active lifestyle through Develop healthy school programmes. Development sporting activities Current NRF Schools for young people funding for this School Sport programme aged 9-13 on Coordinator school sites within (OPEN FOR ACTION) runs Sports each Area out at the end of Colleges Committee March 2004. Sports Clubs boundary. The Further funding OPEN FOR from NRF is ACTION required. Urgent Council priority as programme stated in the improvement plan.

Provide a range of Funded school based through Sports sports Development programmes with budget appropriate exit routes and school club links

To raise awareness Develop healthy SRB 6 funded Education and promote the living programme post to and Culture health benefits of in SRB 6 area December Sports involvement in 2004 Development cultural, creative and Lifelong sporting activity. Learning SRB 6

West Oldham 118 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed

To contribute to the Co-ordination and This Sports work of the Police management of programme is Development and crime prevention school sports tied into the Greater agencies through the sessions and Open for Manchester provision of holiday sports Action Police community based programmes that programme. culture, leisure and target, in Funding from recreational activities. particular, crime NRF runs out hot-spots. in Mar ch 2004. Further funding needs to be found to maintain this exceptionally successful programme. Also specifically highlighted in the In the councils improvement plan.

Contribute to drive to Reduced level of Bookfund March 2004 Library & reduce teenage teenage Information pregnancy by pregnancy Service developing ‘Health Brook Matters’ collections Advisory and promoting sexual Service health advice services Aim: An improving environment To contribute to an improving environment for future generations through promoting sustainability, creating and developing public open space in town and country and maintaining, protecting and enhancing the quality of that space for the community. To protect the Develop the NOF External NOF Schools provision of playing and Sports Lottery funded Sport

West Oldham 119 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed fields and enhance funded projects for Development the provision of sport sports facilities at facilities wherever Hathershaw possible. Technology College. External NOF funded Progress the development of NOF funded indoor athletics provision at The External NOF Radclyffe School. funded Progress the development of a synthetic pitch at Counthill School using NOF funding

Library and Lifelong New Centre built, PFI funding April 2006 Education & Learning Centre will open and secured Cultural be a landmark operating Services building contributing to pride in Oldham

Phase III of the Funding secured Heritage January Education & Cultural Quarter will Lottery 2006 Cultural encompass Local Funding Service Studies, Archives and the Museum, located in the present Central Library

Aim: Well educated, high skilled people To contribute to the development of well educated, highly skilled people by widening participation in lifelong learning so that more people develop knowledge and skills throughout their lives, and improve their employability in a constantly changing labour market To provide cultural, Development of Internal Education creative and sporting curriculum budgets and Culture opportunities for portfolio to ensure Lifelong lifelong learning access to a range Learning

West Oldham 120 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed which increase of cultural, The Oldham participation and creative and College improve educational sporting Oldham achievement. opportunities. Business Management To co-ordinate a School programme of Sports sports coach Development education courses. To ensure that Roll out of the PE 90 % grant Sports schools, colleges, the and School Sport funded 10 % Development Lifelong Learning Club Links match funding Schools Service and other Strategy required – Specialist providers give access approximately Sports to a broad cultural, Ensure that £70,000 College creative and sporting progression routes School curriculum. are in place. Sports Co- ordinators Lifelong Learning The Oldham College Oldham Sixth Form College To work with Raise the number, Internal budgets Sports professional sports standard and quality of Development sports coaches, clubs and other Lifelong leaders, officials and voluntary agencies to administrators through Learning develop high quality a programme of sporting activities. courses.

Provide volunteer opportunities in sports development programmes. Under Fives Month. Numbers Bookfund, June 2004 Library & Promotion activities participating. Printing Information promoting libraries Numbers of new budget Service and the pleasure of members Early Years

West Oldham 121 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed books to preschool children and their parents and carers Review playgroup Customer Bookfund March 2004 Library & collection in the light feedback Information of customer feedback service and National Early Years Curriculum targets Partnership with Sure Number of new Funded by Ongoing. Library & Start to develop library users, Surestart Libraries Information services for pre- attendance at outreach Service school children and events worker to Early Years, their parents and begin work Sure Start carers January 2004

Homework Clubs Numbers Funding Clubs begin Library & being developed for attending, application to 2004 Information Failsworth, Coldhurst increase in NDC, Out of Service and Fitton Hill attainment at KS2 School Hours Excellence in Libraries Fund (NOF) Cities, New and Standards Deal for Fund Communities, Partner schools

Homework Feedback at Bookfund March 2004 Library & Collections reviewed consultation Information and improved events. Increased Service visitor numbers Partner Schools

Develop practical Numbers Lifelong Pilot Lifelong lifelong learning taster attending, take up Learning sessions Learning sessions of courses budgets November 2003 Lifelong Learning to Increased take-up Lifelong January Lifelong employ a community of courses, learning 2004 Learning development worker increased library budgets Library & to work initially with use Information libraries Service

West Oldham 122 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed

Work with Lifelong Take-up of Lifelong Support for Lifelong Learning to develop courses, learning learner Learning basic skills courses increased library budgets driver Library & use theory test, Information November Service 2003, Job seeking and presentatio n skills, November 2003. ECDL November 2003

Extend ICT courses Take-up of Staffing January Lifelong for the public to all courses, budget 2004 Learning libraries, using the increased use of classroom in a box, libraries where on site facilities are inadequate.

To deliver Lifelong Specific targets LSC Funds 2003/4 Lifelong Learning projects met for Learning centrering on health recruitment, Service; and fitness and arts retention and Sports and crafts to engage achievement of Development learners from across learners, individual ; Arts and the community and community Events capacity building.

To widen participation Specific targets LSC funds 2003/4 Lifelong in cultural, creative met for and other Learning and sport activities by recruitment, external funds Service: making them retention and as appropriate Libraries, accessible. achievement of Information

West Oldham 123 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed learners. and Archives: Individual and Arts and community Events, capacity building Sports Development Aim: Oldham: a creative Borough. To promote the reputation of Oldham as a creative Borough with a stimulating and vibrant cultural life

Festival of Words. Numbers of Bookfund Planning Library & Annual celebration of participants, Printing begins Information the written and Evaluation forms, budget November Service spoken Word. Press coverage. 2003, Events Sixth Form Black and Asian throughout College History Month May 2004 celebrated annually New Reading groups Numbers Staffing March 2004 to be established at attending budget, Failsworth, Lees, bookfund Crompton and the Civic Centre Royton Library will be Count of queries Staff time Awareness Library & a centre for raising Information information about the exhibition Service Royton Hall May 2003 Royton archaeological dig. Preliminary Historical dig 2004 Society

Continued Attendance figures Contacts Ongoing Arts & development of Event takes place Marketing Events Festival Oldham without incident Staff time Town Positive feedback Centre Partnership Comm. Groups Establishment of Numbers Venues Ongoing Arts & Urban Music Seminar attending Staff time Events as annual event Positive Coverage Festival organiser Development of Usage Staff time Ongoing MGA Museum as Public events in Service performing arts and around Museum & workspace Cultural Quarter Gallery

West Oldham 124 Task Measure of Resources Timescale Partners Success Needed Service

West Oldham 125

OLDHAM TOWN CENTRE

Oldham Town Centre has undergone major transformation in recent years and has positioned itself as one of the most vibrant and welcoming of Towns within the North West.

The Town has much to be proud of in its achievements to date and this can be accredited to the work of the Oldham Town Centre Partnership. Membership of the Partnership is drawn from a range of business and statutory organisations to reflect the diversity of the functions that the Town Centre fulfils. The Partnership has an important role to play in planning and managing the Town Centre. In addition to the core Partnership, a number of individual Business Associations, covering specific geographical areas within the Town Centre, ensure that the broadest cross section of the community are given the opportunity to contribute to the realisation of the Partnership’s objectives.

The Partnership’s mission statement is:

‘To maintain and maximise the life, vitality and commercial viability of Oldham Town Centre as a sub-regional destination in Greater Manchester.’

The Partnership works on the basic principle that a prosperous Town Centre is beneficial to all parties. In order to achieve this, organisations must work together to ensure that the Town Centre enjoys a positive profile, has a high quality environment, is secure, accessible and attracts ongoing investment.

The Partnership has a history of innovation and has clearly demonstrated the benefit of a unified approach to securing the ongoing prosperity of Oldham Town Centre. As a result, the Town Centre has much to offer people living, working and visiting the Town.

What Local People Say:

The majority of people believe the Town Centre meets their everyday needs but that there are areas of concern.

The shopping facilities are considered to be generally good and larger stores such as Debenhams are welcomed rather than the increasing number of ‘discount’, mobile phone and sport stores.

Many local people feel that Tommyfield Market has declined in recent years. People have referred to the fact that Tommyfield market was once one of the best marketplaces and

West Oldham 126 that people used to travel from miles around to come and shop in Oldham, but that it has been allowed to gradually deteriorate. It has been suggested that a number of factors have contributed to its downfall, including the lack of car parking and high car parking charges compared to other neighbouring authorities.

There are a number of pubs and clubs, particularly in and around Yorkshire Street and this has raised mixed views from local people. Young people tend to state that the night life is good in the Town Centre and that the vast choice of pubs and clubs cater for their needs. Older people tend to feel unsafe in the Town Centre at night because of rising anti-social behaviour and consider that the client group of the pubs and clubs is too young.

What is Good About the Area:

Some of the Borough’s largest private and public sector employers, including Oldham Council, Seton Healthcare, Oldham College, Oldham Sixth Form College and the Primary Care Trust are located in and around the Town Centre and provide a wide range of employment opportunities to local residents.

The excellent transport links to the M60/M62 motorways enables Oldham to exploit its potential to maximise inward investment to the area. In addition, there are good public transport links to Manchester, Rochdale and Tameside and these will be further enhanced by the development of Metrolink.

The Town Centre offers a wide array of retail outlets, with two modern shopping malls and a traditional indoor and outdoor market. The pedestrianised Town Centre area offers a pleasant shopping environment and is further enhanced by the presence of the Town Centre Rangers who increase security and monitor environmental quality.

The Town Centre Rangers project, developed as a result of an Intermediate Labour Market initiative, provides employment opportunities to the long-term unemployed. Nine individuals have gone on to permanent employment, many within the Town Centre.

In addition, the Oldham Promobility Scheme has been of great benefit for improving access to the Town Centre for those with mobility impairments.

The image of the Town Centre has been improved through recent environmental improvement initiatives, largely aided by European funding. This has resulted in extensive upgrading of the physical infrastructure and environment by enhancing both access and the general appearance through, for example, improved street cleanliness. These improvements have had a further effect in strengthening the competitiveness of the local economy.

West Oldham 127 Statistics:

Information relating to the specific issues for the Town Centre, such as community safety and the economy, has been incorporated within the relevant thematic chapters.

What is Happening Now:

A number of agencies are currently working in Partnership to address the issues of anti- social behaviour in and around Yorkshire Street, through initiatives such as ‘Street Safe’ , which aims to reduce the incidence of alcohol related disorder and improve the night-time economy. The presence of CCTV in the Town Centre will also help to assist in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and will help to restore people’s confidence in the area. Furthermore, the area from Oldham Way to St. Mary’s Way, has been declared an Alcohol Free Zone as of November 2003.

Oldham annually enters the ‘Northwest in Bloom’ competition and has received awards and recognition in consecutive years. The Town was successful in winning the ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2002 and entered the ‘Britain in Bloom’ competition in 2003.

Town Centre Rangers will continue to provide security and the monitoring of environmental quality within the Town Centre.

The ‘Street Safe’ initiative has been launched and is seeking to reduce the incidence of alcohol related disorder and improve the night-time economy.

Further environmental improvements are being carried out, including access improvements to pedestrian areas and the promotion of public art, continuing the theme of ‘Made in Oldham’.

Funding has been secured through a Private Finance Initiative to implement the second phase of the Cultural Quarter as a Lifelong Learning Centre and library.

An Integrated Care Centre is to be built in Oldham Town Centre at an estimated cost of £6.4 million.

The development of a new Sainsbury’s supermarket at South Union Street .

An Intermediate Labour Market initiative is being developed with Oldham Coliseum Theatre to provide skills and employment opportunities in all aspects of theatre production.

West Oldham 128 What Will Take The Area Forward:

The development of a masterplan by March 2004, for the Oldham Central Economic Development Zone, bringing together international expertise in urban planning, commercial development, architecture, creative and cultural industries and transport design. The development of Metrolink in Oldham, which will enhance economic and employment activity within the Town and reconstruct the gateway corridor at the Mumps Roundabout.

The expansion of the Cultural Quarter to include a Lifelong Learning Centre and library, Heritage and Archives Centre and a new state of the art theatre.

The renovation and restoration of the Town Hall to ensure that this historical building is brought back to its’ former glory. To build on the working links now established with other organisations and ensure adequate consultation on all issues affecting the Town Centre through, for example, advertising in the ‘Central Issues’ newsletter and promotional campaigns.

Participation and support of the Tourism Forum aimed at co-ordinating tourism issues on a Borough-wide basis.

To continue to expand on the ‘themed’ approach to marketing the Town Centre at Christmas. Also, to continue the corporate approach to funding in order to maximise its potential, which now involves press, radio and TV advertising.

Improving the attractiveness of the indoor and outdoor markets to both traders and shoppers.

Building on the work of the Town Centre Rangers to adopt and monitor the reporting of infrastructure problems within the Town Centre, including flyposting, graffiti, litter, paving and lighting.

The expansion of summer floral displays to sites and buildings within the Town Centre, encouraging as wide a take-up as possible.

Consolidation and improvement of the Oldham Promobility service in order to increase the accessibility to the Town Centre for mobility impaired people.

To promote and expand the Town Centre’s CCTV system, including the security radio link. In addition, assisting the Police in administering the Pub and Club Watch scheme in the Town Centre including the ‘Street Safe’ initiative. This requires the continuation of funding, which is currently due to end in March 2004.

West Oldham 129

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

How you can get involved in Community Planning

Area Plans are going to be used by a range of agencies to decide what type and level of services you will get in your area. It is important that local people contribute to these decisions. The Area Committees will be the main focus of that decision making and there are various ways that you can get involved in influencing what is put into your Area Plan:-

Attending Area Committee meetings – the meetings are advertised in the local papers, in the Oldhamer and on the Oldham Council website. The Council is also examining other ways that it can use to advertise the meetings more widely;

Speaking to your local Councillor – you can contact them directly or attend their ward surgeries that they hold regularly. Again, these are advertised in the local press and on the Oldham Council website;

Using the response forms in the Oldhamer – you can put forward your points of view about your local area, or about the Borough as a whole, using the response forms in the Oldhamer. There are often requests for views from local people about specific issues or you may use the response forms to raise any issue that is of importance to you.

Getting involved in a local group that is represented on the Area Committee – many local groups attend Area Committees to hear what is being discussed and to put questions to the Committee members. If you do not want to, or cannot attend, Area Committees, you could keep in touch via a local group. Contact ODACA below to find out which groups are active in your area.

Becoming an Area Committee co-optee – local people can become a member of their Area Committee and help to discuss and make decisions about their local area. If you are interested in this, you should contact your Area Manager (contact details in the Introduction chapter of the Plan). You can nominate yourself, or again, could be nominated by a local group that you belong to.

Linking into the Community Network Panels – if you are already a member of a community group you will have the opportunity to link with other groups in the voluntary, community and faith sectors from across the Borough. These Panels link to the theme- based partnerships within the Local Strategic Partnership and reflect the chapters in this Plan. See the Voluntary Sector chapter for more detail.

West Oldham 130 There is a commitment from the Local Strategic Partnership to support community empowerment and strengthening the connections to more localised neighbourhood areas. From the start of the area-based community planning process in June 2003, the voluntary, community and faith sectors have been helping connect and support local groups in their work in relation to the Area Committees. This is through Oldham Development Agency for Community Action (ODACA), Voluntary Action Oldham (see Voluntary Sector chapter) and the Oldham Interfaith Forum. They are doing this by helping local people to develop their own skills, talents and ideas so that they have access to and the confidence to contribute to consultation exercises and community development activities. Community empowerment work is very closely linked to the community cohesion work referred to in other parts of this Plan.

The work will entail training programmes to enhance skills in order to increase participation and strengthen representation, building links between communities and developing mechanisms to make communication more effective. Alongside this, an Area Community Empowerment Structure is under development for each Area Committee. All of this work is in the early stages and it is acknowledged that it will take some time to develop fully.

The Principles for the Area Community Empowerment Structure are:

• To ensure renewal relates on a human scale so local people can engage with what it means.

• To address inequalities across all neighbourhoods. To ensure that initiatives seek to break down separation between age groups, communities, people of different backgrounds and move towards a more integrated society.

• To maintain and develop more open and transparent procedures for equitable distribution of resources to address needs.

• To be capable of covering each part of the Borough and in no way exclude particular areas.

• To ensure that any group seeking to develop a renewal idea for their own community or neighbourhood will have access to the relevant decision making process.

• To work to an asset-based model of building on the strengths of our communities.

• To learn from area based regeneration programmes about what works and what needs to be done differently.

West Oldham 131 • To ensure that renewal processes are determined by local needs rather than external pressures, such as funding cycles and criteria.

• To be committed to devising a renewal process and structures where the community has a central part and where time, capacity, information and all communications issues are carefully considered and built in.

• To identify and build upon the existing support for the voluntary, community and faith groups so that they can be an equal player within the renewal processes.

• To work to enhance the local participatory and representative forms of democracy so as to strengthen civic society across all parts of the Borough.

• To seek to ensure that the community planning process is sustainable so as to strengthen social inclusion, community cohesion and civic pride.

What Would Take the Area Forward:

Ideas are sought for how communities can get more involved in determining what happens in their areas and also about how they can get more involved in making a positive difference.

For more information contact VAO or ODACA, c/o 37 Greaves Street, Oldham OL1 1TJ. E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 0161 633 3584 or the Interfaith Workers Forum at Rear of 317 Waterloo Street, Oldham. OL4 1ER

West Oldham 132

REVIEW AND MONITORING

REVIEW OF THE PLAN

This West Oldham Area Plan will be reviewed every two years for approval by the West Oldham Area Committee in September/ October. The first review will therefore take place in 2005.

The review will be preceded by an analysis of the views of local people that have been collected during the previous two years. (See Community Development above for ideas about how you can make your views known at any time.) Specific consultations that are held within the area, or impact upon the area, will also be analysed. If more community views are required about a specific issue, special consultation events will be held, which will be publicised in advance. The aim, however, is to encourage an ongoing dialogue with local people with the Area Committees and the Area Managers at the hub of that process.

EVALUATION

Evaluation needs to be an integral part of all our management processes. The Government requires and local people want, service providers to satisfy them that we are achieving the best outcomes for the resources that are spent within the Borough. This needs to be done by testing our strategies, services and special initiatives against key criteria to judge whether they are delivering the changes that are required to take the Borough forward. The Community Strategy Implementation Plan and Local Strategic Performance Management Framework will be essential elements of the evaluation process. The process for the allocation of resources by the Local Strategic Partnership (currently only Neighbourhood Renewal Funds) includes evaluation criteria against the Government targets contained within this Plan.

At an Area Committee level, the Committee will need to be satisfied that their decisions about how to spend resources are having the desired effect. Regular reporting against specific indicators and targets will therefore be essential.

PROCESS FOR REPORTING PROGRESS

The Local Strategic Partnership is developing a Performance Management Framework that will require the sub-partnerships to report annually on progress. Where possible, this report will include review of work at an area level for reporting to the Area Committees. It

West Oldham 133 is likely that some of the indicators and targets within this Plan may not be updated so frequently because they are not all measured annually.

The sub-partnerships will thus take responsibility for the relevant chapters within this Plan and will provide an annual report for Area Committee. It is suggested that the reports appear as a rolling programme on the Area Committee agenda to enable a specific focus at each meeting. The details of how this will be carried out will be included within the Performance Management Framework for the Local Strategic Partnership.

West Oldham 134

Membership of Oldham’s Local Strategic Partnership

Appendix 1

Loca l Le a rning Partnersh ip O ld ha m R a ce Fa ith Equa lit y G roups Partnersh ip O ld ha m Economic H o us ing Strategy Investment G ro u p Partnersh ip

R egiona l / Sub-Regional Environment Partners Fo ru m L L O CA L STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP Area Committee Children & R eps Young (Co-opted People’s Mem bers) Partne rsh ip

O ld ha m P riva te Aga in st Se cto r C rim e Partne rsh ip H e a lt h & Oldham Socia l C are Council Modernisation V O IC E G ro u p (Voluntary Se cto r Foru m)

West Oldham 135 Oldham Area Map Appendix 2

West Oldham 136

West Oldham 137

Appendix 3 Table 1: The People of West Oldham

Indicator Analysis against Borough / National Average Statistic

Population (2001) St. Paul’s 10,496 The West Oldham population makes up 20.8 % of the Coldhurst 11,935 overall population for the Borough of 217,273 Source: Census 2001, Werneth 11,594 ONS Alexandra 11,159 West Oldham has the highest population of all the Area Committees. Total 45,184

Number of under 16s St. Paul’s 2,328 The number of under 16 year olds in West Oldham is high Coldhurst 3,863 and represents 28.8% of the area’s population. Source: Census 2001, Werneth 3,498 ONS Alexandra 3,305 Across Oldham as a whole, 23% of the population are aged under 16. Total 12,994 West Oldham has the highest proportion of under 16s of the six Area Committees.

Number of people over St. Paul’s 1939 16.2% of West Oldham’s population are aged over 60. pensionable age (Female Coldhurst 1,551 60+, Male 65+) Werneth 2,241 This is lower than the Boroughwide figure of 19.2%. Source: Census 2001, Alexandra 1,620 ONS Total 7,351

Ethnicity White 56.29% West Oldham is the most ethnically mixed of Oldham’s Mixed 1.55% Area Committees. Source: Census 2001, Indian 2.12% ONS Pakistani 19.67% Bangladeshi 18.26% Black 0.9% Other 1.21%

Index of Multiple St. Paul’s 890 Levels of deprivation in West Oldham are significantly Deprivation 2000 Coldhurst 75 higher than the Borough average and are the highest of Werneth 80 any Area Committee area. (IMD 2000) Alexandra 83 Coldhurst, Werneth and Alexandra are amongst the 1% of most deprived wards nationally.

National Child Poverty St. Pauls 51.8 In West Oldham 71.4% of children are living in poverty, Index Coldhurst 78.2 compared to 48.3% across the Borough. In Coldhurst and (Out of 8,414 wards) Werneth 77.3 Werneth around 8 out of 10 children are living in poverty Alexandra 70.9

(IMD 2000) Index for area 71.4 No. of Children in Poverty 9,139

West Oldham 139

Unemployment Rate St. Pauls 4.7% The total number unemployed in this Area accounts for Coldhurst 12.3% 31.3% of the overall Borough total for this category. This is GMResearch/NOMIS July Werneth 10% the highest figure for all of the six Committee Areas. 2003 Alexandra 10% Area 9% No of unemployed people 1,429

West Oldham 140 Appendix 3

Table 2: Children and Young People in West Oldham

Indicator Analysis against Borough / National Average Statistic Population St. Paul's 10,496 The West Oldham population represents 20.8% of the Coldhurst 11,935 overall population for the Borough of 217273. Source: Crown Copyright Werneth 11,594 Census 2001 Alexandra 11,159 West Oldham has the highest population of all the Area Committees. Total 45,184

Number of 0-4 year olds St. Paul's 739 The number of 0-4 year olds represents 9.7% of the Coldhurst 1405 overall Area population. This compares to the overall Source: Crown Copyright Werneth 1184 proportion of those aged 0-4 across the Borough which Census 2001 Alexandra 1069 stands at 7%

Total 4397

Number of 0-14 year olds St. Paul's 2152 The number of 0-14 year olds represents 26.9% of the Coldhurst 3648 overall Area population. This compares to the overall Source: Crown Copyright Werneth 3251 proportion of those aged 0-14 across the Borough Census 2001 Alexandra 3113 which stands at a much lower rate of 21.5%

Total 12,164

Number of under 16s St. Paul's 2328 The total number of under 16 year olds represents Coldhurst 3863 28.7% of the overall Area population. This is much Source: Crown Copyright Werneth 3498 higher than the overall population of those aged under Census 2001 Alexandra 3305 16 across the Borough, which stands at 23%

Total 12,994 West Oldham has the highest proportion of under 16s of the six Area Committees.

Number of 16-24 year olds St. Paul’s 1232 The total number of 16 – 24 year olds represents 13.9% Coldhurst 1780 of the overall Area population. This is higher than the Source: Crown Copyright Werneth 1783 overall proportion of those aged 16-24 across the Census 2001 Alexandra 1503 Borough, which stands at 10.7%

Total 6298

West Oldham 141 Appendix 3

Table 3: Housing in West Oldham

Indicator Statistic Analysis against Borough / National Average

Total No. of households by St. Paul’s 4,388 This represents 18.6% of the overall number of Ward Coldhurst 4,269 households in the Borough. (2003) OMBC Council Tax Werneth 3,874 Database Alexandra 3,922

Total 16,453

No. of properties by Area St. Paul’s 4,726 This area contains 19.3% of the Borough’s properties. (2003) OMBC Council Tax Coldhurst 4,632 Database Werneth 4,294 Alexandra 4,284

Total 17,936

No. of Households in 2,666 This represents 34.8% 0f Oldham’s total number of Unsuitable Housing households in unsuitable housing – the highest in the Borough.

% of Households Unable to 11,819 This represents 25.9% of Oldham’s households that are Afford Local Market unable to afford local market housing – the highest Housing figure in the Borough.

No. of Existing 2,436 This represents 40.7% of Oldham’s households that are Households in Need in need – the highest figure in the Borough.

No. of Local Authority 5,003 This represents 27.1% of Oldham’s households that are Properties by Area in Local Authority ownership – the highest figure in the Borough.

No. of Local Authority 271 This represents 40.8% of Oldham’s households that are Voids Local Authority voids– by far the highest figure in the Borough.

Decent Homes Standards Homes affected 3,034 The total estimated cost of repair in this area represents (Repairs, Costs, Estimates) Est. unit repair cost 25.4% of the Borough’s overall cost (or a quarter) £9.9k Total Area Cost £30.0m The average repair cost per unit across the Borough stands at £10.9k.

% Vacants by Ward St. Paul’s 7.2 The rate of vacancies in the area is much higher than Coldhurst 7.8 the Borough average of 5.1% and is the highest of all (2003) OMBC Council Tax Werneth 9.8 six areas. Database Alexandra 8.5

Area 8.3

West Oldham 142

Table 3: Housing in West Oldham (Contd)

Indicator Statistic Analysis against Borough / National Average

Median House Prices – All St. Paul’s £34.0k This compares to the average median house price for Dwellings by Ward Coldhurst £31.9k the Borough, which stands at £46.6k. Werneth £22.5k Alexandra £20.0k

Terraced Dwellings – by St. Paul’s £29.9k This compares to the average terraced house price in Ward Coldhurst £29.9k the Borough, which stands at £35.9k. Werneth £18.5k Alexandra £19.0k

Housing Deprivation Rank St. Paul’s 758 These are measured out of 8,414 wards nationally. All by Ward Coldhurst 35 these wards are within the worst 10% most deprived. Werneth 51 Coldhurst and Werneth are within the 1% most IMD 2000 Alexandra 218 deprived nationally.

West Oldham 143

Appendix 3 Table 4: Health and Social Care Statistics for West Oldham

Indicator Statistic Analysis against Borough / National Average

Standardised Mortality Ratio St Paul’s 128 The Area has the highest rate of early deaths in the under 65) Coldhurst 167 Oldham area. It is substantially higher than the Oldham (1997-1999) Werneth 164 rate (130) and higher than the national rate. Alexandra Alexandra 201 has the highest rate of early deaths in Oldham.

Total 165

Life Expectancy St Paul’s The life expectancy for the Borough is 72.7 and Male 72.3 Female 79.1 nationally is 75.5. Coldhurst Male 71.5 Female 79.4 Werneth Male 71 Female 77.6 Alexandra Male 69.4 Female 75.8

St Paul’s 12.4 Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) The infant mortality rate in the Area is higher than the Coldhurst 7.7 1997-2001 per 1000 live births Oldham average (7.5). St. Paul’s has the highest rate in Werneth 8.0 Oldham and Alexandra is the second highest. Alexandra 10.1

Total 9.0

St Paul’s 36 The rate for the area is slightly higher than the rate for Conception rate per 1000 Coldhurst 34 Oldham (40 per 1000). Note Alexandra, which has the females (age 13-17) Werneth 37 third highest rate in Oldham. Alexandra 54

Total 41.2

National Rank of Health St Paul’s 853 Three of the wards are within the 5% most health Deprivation Coldhurst 403 deprived wards nationally and are three of the four Werneth 292 worse most health deprived in the Borough. IMD 2000 Alexandra 232

West Oldham 144 Low Birth Weights % St Paul’s 11.8 All the rates in West Oldham are worse under 2500g (1996 – 2000) Coldhurst 11.8 thane the average for Oldham (9.6%). Werneth 13.2 nd Alexandra 12.1 Werneth and Alexandra have the 2 and rd 3 worst low birth weights in the borough. Average 12.2%

Long Term Limiting Illness % St Paul’s 21.7% West Oldham has highest rate of long term limiting Source: Crown Copyright Census Coldhurst 20.8% illness in the Borough which has an average of 20.3% 2001 Werneth 21.8% Alexandra 23.4% Area 21.9%

Total Number of Disability Benefit St Paul’s 930 This equates to 10.4% of the area’s population, Claims (Incapacity benefit, Coldhurst 1,305 which is significantly above the Borough average attendance allowance, severe Werneth 1 230 of 8.6%. disablement allowance) Alexandra 1,235 Census 2001, ONS Total 4,700

West Oldham 145 Appendix 3 Table 5: Economic Performance in West Oldham

Indicator Statistic Analysis against Borough / National Average

Total Unemployment Rate St. Paul’s 4.7% The total number unemployed in the Area accounts for Source: Coldhurst 12.3% 39.2% of all unemployed people in the Borough. At GMResearch/NOMIS July Werneth 10% 9%, the unemployment rate for the area is more than 2003 Alexandra 10% twice the Borough average. (3.7%)

Area 9%

Long Term Unemployment St. Paul’s 7.9% The number in this Area accounts for 33% of the Rate Source: Coldhurst 8.6% overall Borough total in this category. GMResearch/NOMIS July Werneth 7.9% 2003 Alexandra 9.2% At 8.5%, the long term unemployment rate for the area is lower than the Borough average (10.7%). Area 8.5%

% Youth Unemployment St. Paul’s 11.1% At 13.1%, the youth unemployment rate is the highest rate Source: Coldhurst 14.1% of all area committees and is significantly higher than GMResearch/NOMIS July Werneth 12.5% the Borough average, which stands at 8.2% 2003 Alexandra 14.6% Area 13.1% 175 of the area’s unemployed are under the age of 20.

% Households Receiving St. Paul’s 26.3% The percentage of households in receipt of benefits is Benefits Coldhurst 52% significantly higher than the percentage for the OMBC Council Tax and Werneth 43.8% Borough, which stands at 26.3% of households. In Benefits Database Feb Alexandra 44% Coldhurst, over half of all households are in receipt of 2003 benefits. Average 41.3%

People of a pensionable St. Paul’s 16.5% The percentage of pensioners in receipt of income age in receipt of Coldhurst 47.1% support for this area is far higher than that for the Pensioner Premium Werneth 27.4% Borough, which is 19.4% Income Support Alexandra 33.6% Three out of ten pensioners in the area are in receipt Source: of Income Support compared with around two out of GMResearch/NOMIS July Area 30.1 ten across the Borough. 2003

West Oldham 146

West Oldham 147

West Oldham 149

West Oldham 150 External Funding Appendix 4

West Oldham 151

West Oldham 152 West Oldham – Housing Stock Investment Appendix 5

Table 4 PLANNING TOTALS 2003/0 2004/0 2005/0 2006/0 Total 2007/0 No 4 5 6 7 8 Propertie s £'m. £'m. £'m. £'m. £'m. £'m. WEST OLDHAM

Crossbank Summervale £1.86 226 House 50 Eldon Street Refurbishment £0.75 £1.53 241 Works 051 & 056 Godson Street £0.01 £1.09 119 039/073/074/075/102 Burnley Street 71 / 123 £0.82 171 Primrose Bank Post War 016 £1.30 358 Werneth & Freehold 43 / 80 / £0.92 235 81 / 82 / 83 / 84 / 85 / 86 / 87 / 88 Barker Street 038/072 £2.61 £0.55 414 Bardsley Estate 018/054 £1.19 224 Hathershaw 011 £0.24 96 Shield Street / Villiers Drive £0.99 74 104 Crete Street 031 £0.18 25 Coldhurst 35 £0.36 330 Acquireds 118 / 198 / 498 £1.20 89 Daisy St / Harold Street 59 / £0.26 31 108 Belgrave Road 31 £0.20 31 Clarkwell 29 £0.02 87 West Street Estate 1&2 116 / £0.15 £1.55 391 50 Busk Estate £0.25 358 Fire Precaution Works £0.01 N/A Rosary Road Drainage £0.01 N/A Oxford House Rehousing £0.03 N/A Northumberland House - Low £0.05 N/A Demand Measures Call Entry Replacement £0.09 N/A

West Oldham 153 Heating Replacement / £0.52 £0.12 £0.79 £0.62 N/A Upgrade Environmental Works. £0.51 £0.70 £0.70 £0.70 N/A PVCu Mini Programme £0.10 £0.10 £0.10 N/A Sub-Totals £3.82 £9.18 £3.95 £3.78 £20.7 - 3 - Boroughwide PVCu Mini £0.10 - Programme Overall Total £3.92 £9.18 £3.95 £3.78 £20.8 £2.42 3500 3

West Oldham 154 Facilities provided by libraries in the Borough Appendix 6

B B B B C D C C S O P P B E W N Art T P o o o o a Vide V o h t p Fax h h Inte u u o e spa Stor a u o o o o s os D m il u e o o rnet s r r w ce y l bl k k k k s p d d n t t i o d s tape k ic s s s s e u r y L o o n p P p s i A i tt t e s e c c e e r a n c f f f n e e n p a o o s a o p g c o o o A s r ’ a r p p s n c e b e r r r s a S s c n y y I R e r o s A C T i n o a e i i i n e s s o s Library d h e a d ft c n n n f l s a k P u i e n C w ti g g g o a i n s C l l n L D a v ( ( r y n d s t d a a s r it b c m g p ( s r g n e i l o a e N e e g e a l ti ri o n r u s c o o o s) s a k u n d g a r) i e n c s d a w l h s it e ) C √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 5 Broadway C √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 5 Chadderton S+R √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 10 Crompton S+L √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 2 Delph F+H √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 9 Failsworth WO √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 11 Fitton Hill S+L √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 4 Greenfield S+L √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 5 Lees

West Oldham 155 F+H √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 15 Limeside ` WO √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 6 Northmoor WO √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 38 Oldham S+R √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 8 Royton EO √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 7 Stoneleigh S+L √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 5 Uppermill √ √ √ √ √ √ - Mobile Index of Multiple Deprivation Appendix 7

West Oldham 156 Wardname Indices of Indices of Indices of Indices of Indices of Indices of Indices of Child Poverty Deprivation 2000, Deprivation Deprivation 2000, Deprivation Deprivation Deprivation Deprivation Index Score rank of index of 2000, rank of rank of 2000, rank of 2000, rank of 2000, rank of 2000, rank of (% of children multiple income domain employment health domain education housing domain access domain living in deprivation rank (out of 8414 domain (out of (out of 8414 domain (out of (out of 8414 (out of 8414 poverty) (out of 8414 wards) wards) 8414 wards) wards) 8414 wards) wards) wards) Coldhurst 75 40 357 403 184 35 7880 78.2 Werneth 80 70 290 292 253 51 8178 77.3 Alexandra 83 143 377 232 21 218 6872 70.9 St. Marys 103 106 576 441 15 74 8163 75.2 Hollinwood 307 194 631 344 346 1235 7429 74.2 St. James 338 335 664 592 215 581 7365 61.2 Lees 816 722 1067 641 1218 1265 4903 54.2 St. Pauls 890 1121 1339 853 447 758 7297 61.2 Chadderton South 1134 1772 1840 1106 166 1796 6423 38.6 Waterhead 1359 1609 1833 1072 628 1781 7171 37.9 Failsworth West 1642 1443 1753 999 2558 1707 7726 43.4 Failsworth East 2405 2583 2296 1648 3293 2553 4616 26.2 Chadderton Central 2468 2875 2726 1544 1195 4528 7314 24.1 Chadderton North 2725 2566 2572 1512 3818 3538 5640 31.0 Shaw 3076 2514 2797 1590 6694 2599 6518 31.6 Royton South 3398 3653 3289 1880 2519 5433 5971 22.3 Royton North 3683 3465 2951 1792 6107 4960 5340 26.4 Crompton 3852 3013 3270 1827 7112 4933 6613 30.8 Saddleworth West 5077 4712 4775 3708 5789 4507 3617 16.7 Saddleworth East 7041 6520 5450 5100 8234 7556 3143 10.6

West Oldham 157

West Oldham 158