Councillor S R Oldham, CBE

~ A Profile - July 2006 ~

Profession:

Chartered Engineer - C. Eng. Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering

Senior Management Engineer

Designer in Nuclear Engineering

Over 30 years in employment of UKAE and BNFL at Risley, Sellafield and other establishments.

Labour Party:

• Member of the Labour Party from 1960
• Branch Treasurer from 1964 until present date
• Continuous membership of the Stalybridge and Hyde Constituency Labour Party from 1964
• Continuous membership of the Tameside Local Government Committee (former District Labour Party) from 1973 to present
• Held a variety of posts and positions such as Political Officer, Press Secretary, and Local Government Agent
• Leads the Tameside Local Government Committee Manifesto Group, producing election materials for 19 Wards
• Over 20 times the successful local agent for Council elections
• Parliamentary agent four successful times, lifting the majority from just over 2000 to over 8000
• Subscription collector for Ward for over 35 years, collecting over 50 subscriptions per month, door to door, from ordinary members.

Local Government:

42 years of unbroken service for the same area.

Member of Longdendale Urban District Council from 1965 until 1974 (9 years) Chairman in 1969.   Involved in the creation of Tameside Metropolitan District Council. Member of various Council Committees.

Chairman of Longdendale UDC - 1969 and played a large part in gaining control of the Council for Labour from the Conservatives.

Member of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council from its inception in 1974 until present time (31 years), with unbroken service to the same ward of Longdendale.

Chair of Education, steering Council through the difficult - and nationally controversial - years of comprehensive education.

Chair of Policy and Resources Committee from 1980 to 2001. Labour controlled throughout this time, with a current majority of 44 Labour Members out of 57 seats - the largest political group in the City Region.

Leader of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council from 1980 to 2001.

Executive Leader with Cabinet Status as from 2001 to present.

Unbroken 26 years of political leadership of Tameside Council is unrivalled anywhere in the country and is an achievement which is unlikely to be reached by anyone else in the future.

Chair of Greater Manchester Pension Fund from 1986 to present - the largest local government pension fund in the UK, with assets of over £8.55 billion (£2.5 billion in 1986).

Personally created a "hands on" control and management, involving the workforce and union participation/representation.

Founder member of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, following the dissolution of the Greater Manchester County Council. The Association has successfully picked up the responsibilities of the County Council and developed them.

Companies and Boards:

Has been a member of the following:

• Manchester International Airport (Chair 1997-98) (a wholly Council owned, highly successful enterprise)
• Chair of Manchester Airport Ventures Ltd
• Ringway Handling
• Ringway Handling Services Ltd
• Modesole plc
• G-Mex
• Huddersfield Canal Company

Is currently a member of the following:

• National Nuclear Waste Disposal Group
• South Pennine Integrated Strategy Forum
• European Programme Secretariat, Government Office North West
• Greater Manchester Pension Fund
• SIGOMA
• Local Government Association
• North West Regional Assembly
• Member of NWRA Transport Forum
• Association of Greater Manchester Authorities
• Hattersley Development Board

Special Initiatives:

Initiator of various major schemes in the Tameside Borough, which have led to hundreds of millions of pounds being invested in business, infrastructure, commerce and housing, including:

Hyde Renewal Area - the country's most successful, according to the Department of the Environment, with a total investment of over £70 million from private and public sources.

Ashton Renewal Area - a 10 year programme potentially with £160 million of private and public investment.

Tame Valley Partnership - a company established by the Council with a £100 million investment programme over 10 years, using £8.5 million of Government resources (SRB).

Hattersley Development Trust - set up by the Council with partners to invest £7.4 million of public money (SRB) in a particularly disadvantaged community. Responsible for driving forward £200 million transformation programme.

Ashton Pioneer Homes - a national pilot scheme potentially attracting large sums of private and public investment by the creation of a housing company, with a Board of Directors, tenants, developers and the Council.

New Charter Housing Trust - the successful transfer of over 17,000 Council owned homes to a new social landlord - the first large scale voluntary transfer in the country.

Stalybridge Development Group, involving the private sector in partnership schemes, including £3 million national housing demonstration project and £8.5 million Millennium Commission scheme to reopen Huddersfield Narrow Canal on 1st May 2001, under the auspices of a newly created Canal company.

Modern Local Government - Introduced District Assemblies throughout Tameside in 1997, a first step in bringing local government closer to the people, with representatives of the community, business, and year 11 pupils, sitting alongside elected members. Designated staff working alongside Councillors for the benefit of the community. Residents' satisfaction stands at 84%, up 10% from 2001.

The introduction of Cabinet style leadership to TMBC in May 2001, supported by a small team of officers, with a reduced Committee structure, the formation of Scrutiny Panels and an external Standards Bench.

Developed a strong financial background with balances of over £11M and reserves of over £29M as at 1st April 2006.

Unique setting of Council Tax guaranteed no larger than 10% rise over three years from 2002 to 2004 and not exceeding 8% for 2005/06 and 2006/07.

Chair of many innovatory groups and working parties, such as the environmentally friendly Local Agenda 21, which introduced a full recycling project of waste paper via a "Blue Bin" scheme. This gives the Council an annual profit enabling the purchase of environmental items such as "Community Area" personalised bulk collection systems.

Designer of the unique "Tamesider" an all-purpose refuse vehicle which deals with all waste collection problems, including bulky household waste and fly-tipping from across the Borough.

Designed a "Glass Crushing Plant" to deal with 3500 tonnes of bottles per year. Product used in place of sand for irrigation. Kerbside "Green Bin" collection picks up the recyclable items.

Designer of the Tameside Slipper, a revolutionary method of replacing worn out street lights, now taken up by a number of local authorities.

Set up 60 strong Warden scheme accepted as a model of best practice nationally.

Introduced Cadet Patrollers, which provides training in the uniformed services for young people. Home Office Minister (Hazel Blears) has visited the scheme and shown a personal interest in it. This Scheme may be used as a model elsewhere.

Developed mobile youth facilities, which achieved a national Crime and Community Safety award.

Best performing Drugs Intervention Programme in the country.

Worked in partnership with the Police to develop neighbourhood policing.

Initiated the "Tameside Watchman" - a roadside camera which identifies speeding vehicles and warns them to slow down, counts vehicle numbers and also has a 24 hours CCTV surveillance of the road.

Responsible for successful PFI bid, for three schools, one High and two Primary.

Responsible for being accepted into the 3rd wave of the Building Schools for the Future programme and now working on business case which, if accepted, should realize around £130m for the initial stages of the programme.

Created "Stay Put Scheme" for private house owners who are elderly, in that they are grant aided for refurbishment of their homes.

Successful PSA1 - 80% of our targets hit, producing government grant of £4.4M, the best outcome in the country.

Council awarded over 50 national awards, some of them including 'Excellent Council' Status. A key to the organisation's success in achieving excellence has been its strong political leadership, as endorsed by the Audit Commission in the Council's Corporate Assessment.

Leading the Council in its achievement of 5 Beacon Awards:

• Preventing Crime and Disorder
• Maintaining a quality Environment
• Accessible Services
• Community Legal Services
• Getting Closer to Communities

Ensured that Tameside became the Regional Centre of Excellence for Procurement in local government, supporting improvements across the North West.

Developed Tameside's Local Strategic Partnership, viewed as the best in the North West.

Personally responsible for developing e-Government by putting Tameside at the forefront of developing an electronic community. Tameside is the first Council to have all Council services accessible via the web and to open a network of community IT learning centres in libraries and partner buildings.

Personally involved in the production of "The History of Tameside" (8 volumes) - the most comprehensive set of historical records in the UK, carried out at cost by the Manchester University Archaeological Unit.

Developed a local visitor attraction charting the history of Tameside.

Developed an Archives Centre which will ensure that historical records are preserved for future generations.

Personally involved with the introduction of public artworks and statues within the Borough.

Community Initiatives:

Creation of innovatory activities enabling community and local sporting organisations to draw down financial aid, including the most successful area in the North West for National Lottery sports awards.

Placing of youth facilities into existing sporting facilities (football, cricket, etc.,) where interest and discipline replaces boredom and vandalism. "Pound for pound" scheme supporting ground improvements, subject to youth provision of the type outlined above, to a Council specification. A tangible example is Stalybridge Celtic AFC who have been granted many tens of thousands of pounds for ground development, leading to the provision of over 200 youngsters being involved in 19 youth teams.

Provision of portable buildings known as "PODs", where groups of young people can gather, inviting them "in" with a consequential reduction of complaints and nuisance.

Leading and directing the Council into direct involvement with aid and assistance to many voluntary charitable organisations, including:

• Tameside Citizen Advice Bureau
• Tameside Racial Equality Council
• Tameside Victim Support
• Tameside Macmillan Nurses
• Tameside and Glossop Hospice, officially opened in June 1999
• Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit
• The Royal British Legion
• Initiated dedicated car parks in Tameside from which charges are paid to Macmillan Nurses, the local Hospice and other local charities

His compassion extends internationally and during the Kosovo crisis he actively worked on rebuilding a community in that war-torn country. Tameside Council was asked to house refugee families for the duration of the war and under the direction of Councillor Roy Oldham, the families were provided with fully equipped flats and support services. He ensured that their traumatic experiences were eased by providing an environment which was as near to normal as possible. This included education for the children, language tuition for the adults and a programme of social events for all. On completion of the military events, Councillor Oldham spearheaded an initiative to help the refugees to return to Kosovo. This programme included provision of warm clothing, school equipment and vehicles. To enhance the relationship with the people of Shtime, he travelled on two occasions to meet and see for himself the environment in Kosovo to assess their needs. As Kosovo progresses, the need for help has diminished and it is Councillor Oldham's intention that a long-standing friendship remains.

Development of a close partnership with the Police, with the common aid of reducing crime at all levels throughout the Borough. To that aim, many specific items have been purchased by the Council (outside the normal Police precept) and given to the Police for their direct use, including:

• Closed circuit television equipment
• Vehicles for use by Tameside "Special" Constabulary
• Electronic equipment for surveillance
• PODs (as described above)

Personal:

Has lived in Mottram-in-Longdendale all his life.

Married to Margaret, also a Tameside Councillor.

One son, John, a Teacher.

Lifelong Manchester City supporter.

Keen gardener and DIY enthusiast.

Interested in history and local heritage.

President of local cricket and football clubs.

Awarded the CBE in the New Years Honours List 1999.

Admitted as Honorary Freeman of the Borough in recognition of his eminent services to the Borough of Tameside and to commemorate his 25th Anniversary as Leader of the Council (10th June 2005).