Oldham Labour Group Friday Briefing 23/05/2014

Weekly Leader’s Blog

There is no Leader’s Blog this week, nor for the duration of purdah, 14 April – 22 May 2014.

News from Oldham Council

Oldham Council Leader joins Westminster Council Election Campaign
“Leader of Oldham Council Jim McMahon joined Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Westminster Council Labour Opposition Leader, on the campaign trail today in Westminster following a meeting to discuss ways of building more homes, creating more jobs and improving Council services” (Read more)

 

Festival of Oldham – A free feast for the imagination
This weekend’s Festival Oldham is a free feast for the imagination. The borough’s annual celebration of art and entertainment takes place on Saturday, May 24 from 12 noon until 4pm at various sites across the town centre. Check out the best live shows, music and dance – including the chance to climb aboard a flying machine for a fantastic adventure. (Read more)

Inspector approves removal of Lancashire scheme affordable housing contribution
A planning inspector has allowed an appeal for the removal of an obligation requiring the developer of a housing scheme in Oldham to make a £283,000 financial contribution towards affordable housing. Oldham Council granted planning permission to developer Tamewater Developments Limited in 2008 for a 46-home scheme at Dobcross in Oldham. The permission was subject to an obligation requiring Tamewater to make four instalments of payments to the council in lieu of the provision of affordable housing. The provisions allow for applications to be made to vary affordable housing requirements contained in a planning obligation if those requirements make the scheme unviable. (Read more)

Oldham Council announces Election Results
The new composition of Oldham Council as of 23 May 2014 is:
45 Labour
10 Liberal Democrats
2 Conservative
2 UKIP
1 Independent

For full details please follow this link or follow Oldham Council @OldhamCouncil

 

News from Westminster

Rt Hon Michael Meacher MP

Miliband’s linking minimum wage could benefit up to 5m low-paid workers
“Low pay in Britain is scandalous, and it has got considerably lower since 2010. Low pay is conventionally defined as the number of workers paid less than the Living Wage of £7.45 per hour outside London and £8.80 in London, and on that basis workers on low pay have increased by almost 2 millions since the last election…Miliband proposes to cut through this failed system by requiring the minimum wage to be linked to the upward moving escalator of median salaries. The beauty of this is that it won’t cost the public purse anything, indeed the Treasury will make a saving, because at present employers are let off the hook of paying a decent wage by government paying tax credits (i.e. using taxpayers to supplement employers’ too low wages)” (Read more)

For more news from Michael Meacher MP please follow this link

To follow Michael Meacher MP on Twitter please go to: @michaelmeacher

Debbie Abrahams MP

Starting Dementia Awareness Week with a quick 10K run
“Creating a dementia-friendly Oldham is one of my top ten constituency priorities so what better way to start Dementia Awareness Week than by completing Europe’s biggest 10K running event, the Great Manchester Run, in 54 minutes and 33 seconds?  Race day was too hot for running but the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic and the streets of Manchester were packed with people running for all sorts of charities” (Read more)

For more news from Debbie Abrahams MP please follow this link

To follow Debbie Abrahams on Twitter please go to @Debbie_Abrahams

News from the LGA

For news from the LGA Labour Group this week please follow this link to read more

To follow the LGA Labour Group on Twitter please go to @LGA_Labour