It is great to see that our Labour-led Oldham Council has been driving forward our shared priorities at last night’s full-council meeting. Each motion on small HMOs and investing in West End Street Pitches were passed by the Council, showing that with a Labour-led Council, Labour MP, Labour Mayor and Labour government – action is being taken to fight for decent homes and promote community ownership.
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Last night, a Labour-backed motion passed the Council to invest in the pitches on West End Street in Coldhurst by accelerating the central government funding for a resurfaced all-weather sports pitch.
This is thanks to the relentless hard work of all those who came together at our clean-up event last year and who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes: local councillors Abdul Malik & Abdul Jabbar, community groups, local organisations and volunteers.
A cooperative model for governance is being explored by the Labour-led Council, which is what we have been pushing for giving the community genuine ownership of its future. Community Ownership, a priority of mine at the general election for Oldham West, Chadderton & Royton, is all about protecting local venues like sports clubs and putting local people in control – and this is what a cooperative model at West End Street would bring.
The pitches only still exist and are therefore able to be invested in because of the last Labour government which created them, and the hard work of local Labour councillors to fight the 14 years of cuts to local services by the Tories.
This has been an ongoing campaign of ours over recent years: to visit the site before & after the election to reaffirm support, work behind the scenes to put a plan in place, organise a clean-up event to begin to transform the pitches, engage with local people throughout to build support & momentum for the project, and begin to legislate for the English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill so residents have more power to rescue the venues.
The motion passing in the Council vote is a win for local people who have been fighting for a better future.
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The over concentration of HMOs across our borough is a concern we have been highlighting for a long time, and now – with a Labour MP, Labour-led Council and Labour government – action is being taken to reform our outdated planning system nationally and take back community control locally.
The administration brought forward an amendment to a motion on introducing an Article 4 direction borough wide. This means HMOs will no longer be so unregulated and will have to go through the full planning process. In this way, we are putting communities at the heart of the decision-making process and ensuring their voices are heard.
The rise of small HMOs, which too often end up having substandard & unsafe living conditions, can damage the fabric of our neighbourhoods. By the Council closing the loophole in this way, control is being restored so vulnerable residents will no longer be exploited or communities be overwhelmed.
Yes – with our planning reforms, support for Places for Everyone, billions of investment in social & affordable housing, and commitment to building 1.5 million homes over this Parliament – we taking the crisis in temporary accommodation & wider housing crisis seriously and tackling it head on. However, we are doing so in a way which stops community venues like pubs or good, quality family homes being bought up by landlords looking to make a large profit by converting them into HMOs.
This decisive action by the Council is welcome.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 