News that its future was under threat raised significant concern not just from the scientific community, but from all of us who recognise the cultural importance of the observatory, best known for its enormous Lovell Telescope, whose position on the Cheshire plains can be seen from the hills of Oldham and across the North West.

Importantly it provides a tangible connection to science which I have no doubt ignites an interest for the many young visitors who attend each year and inspires them to learn more, and who knows, to perhaps become the next Professor Brian Cox.

Let’s get this resolved once and for all.

Hillsborough Law has passed the Commons but is returning to the Lords so we can strengthen the duty of candour and give bereaved families greater equality & justice

Giving 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote and making our democracy more accessible, more transparent & safer through the Representation of the People Bill returning

Bringing our railways back together and delivering a better, more reliable railway for passengers through the Railways Bill continuing it’s passage through Parliament, after already passing the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act into law in 2024

Securing our borders and delivering a fairer, better-managed immigration and asylum system with the Immigration and Asylum Bill continuing to go through the Commons

Giving leaseholders greater control and making commonhold the default through the proposed Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill

Protecting social housing, strengthening tenants’ rights and stopping the loss of council homes through the Social Housing Bill

Cutting household bills by taking VAT off household electricity bills from October

Giving working people greater rights, with the Employment Rights Act bringing in a six-month deadline to bring an employment tribunal claim from October and further trade union reforms from the end of October

Continuing to deliver the Renters’ Rights Act, with the next phase of reforms to private renting due later this year

Continuing to empower communities, local leaders and our Mayors through devolution

A lot to be getting on with and it will be great to get stuck into Parliament again as a minister covering local government, devolution and regional growth.

It was good to join colleagues in No.10 North as we progress the next stage of devolution.

We’ve almost completed devolution across the North of England with Cheshire and Warrington, and Cumbria due for their first mayoral elections next May, and my hope for Lancashire to develop a mayoral devolution agreement remains, at which point we would see the entire North of England represented by mayoral devolution, new Strategic Authorities to oversee investment, growth alongside a range of extended powers and freedoms.

The same is true across the country where there is appetite to end the centralising and disconnected political culture, which often sets areas in desperate need against one another in bidding wars, for what usually ends up being limited investment which doesn’t address the scale of the social and economic challenges those places face.

For those who have longed believed the centralised and disconnected stronghold in Whitehall and Westminster has held our regions back, it’s a hugely exciting time.

This week we’re kickstarting our record £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, supporting more than 70,000 new homes, with nearly two-thirds for genuinely affordable social rent – the biggest council housebuilding comeback in decades.

This means £10 billion for councils, housing associations & other partners, with £529 million for Greater Manchester to deliver around 4,400 new homes for our city-region.

Here in Oldham, 605 children are currently living in temporary accommodation. This investment will help families stuck in temporary accommodation or on housing waiting lists get into safe, secure homes.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing the good work of organisations such as First Choice Homes and Vistry Group in Oldham and I know they and other providers are ready and willing to do even more. Likewise Oldham Council has been working hard to free up brownfield sites and many schemes will see redundant land brought back into use alongside good transport links.

I’ll keep fighting for more decent family homes for local people, while pushing back against the over-concentration of HMOs in our borough. They are too often fuelling the housing crisis by removing family homes from the market and normalising shoe box living.

It’s time we got on and fixed the housing crisis so that local people finally have the security of a decent affordable home.

I’ve always had dogs around growing up and our house wouldn’t be the same without Alfie now.

It was really distressing to hear from animal charities how many dogs are given up by their owners who aren’t able to afford to keep them, or who have been forced to move to a new rented home which didn’t accept pets.

So it’s really important that the flagship Renters’ Right Act means that tenants now have the right to request a pet, alongside a cap being introduced for vet prescription fees at £21 and the new Animal Welfare Strategy to tackle puppy smuggling.

Small but important steps to make owning a dog a little easier.

It’s wrong that such a small minority of selfish people believe their moment of drama is more important than the wellbeing of their neighbours.

This example is off Broadway on a council owned playing pitches and car park behind San Rocco restaurant. The mess left on the football pitches as well as the litter on the car park is a reminder of the meeting which took place the previous night. The scale of the fireworks are not those many would buy for private use, they are industrial scale and imported by a company in Bolton, according to the packaging.

This example has been reported to Oldham Council and to Greater Manchester Police, and I hope efforts are made to review the CCTV on site. The police must enforce the law, and the council must support them with its community safety powers and as the landowner in this case.

We also need much more visible enforcement from authorities for late night meetings, weddings and other celebrations which use fireworks late into the night.

I have received numerous complaints not just about the fireworks themselves but about the response from the council and police when concerns are reported. Having seen the responses I share the concern that residents are simply being passed from pillar to post and the issue is not being resolved. There is a much bigger issue authorities who serve the borough must accept; that for many hardworking people who do what’s asked, pay their way, and play the rules; they see those who do not act as they wish without consequences on a wide range of issues. The cumulative impact is affecting decent people living a decent life, and that can not be normalised.

Alongside local action on the specific issue of fireworks we need much better national regulation. There is a live consultation open now which runs to 7th October on this. I would encourage constituents to respond to it here https://ditresearch.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eg0jcixPsRnv1NY

Note; The survey can be complicated, it might be helpful to read this explainer first https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/fireworks-and-pyrotechnics-in-the-uk/fireworks-and-pyrotechnics-in-the-uk

I am deeply concerned at reports about the Northern Care Alliance, which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital alongside Salford Royal, Fairfield General and Rochdale Infirmary.

The concerns raised by staff and patients deserve to be fully investigated, especially when they are supported by evidence of failures which have contributed to harm to patients.

Like most local people, I use and rely on the NHS and the Royal Oldham Hospital. While we are all thankful for the care provided by individual staff who go above and beyond to support us when we are at our most vulnerable, it is clear that the hospital is under sustained staffing pressure, an A&E department and wards which are overwhelmed, and a system which does not work as it should, creating bottlenecks, backlogs and adding to the stress staff and patients experience.

Reports of 12,000 cases of delayed treatment, 28 deaths and 56 severe harm incidents are serious. The Manchester Evening News’ reporting of these figures should invite the trust to respond with a clear plan to ensure such failures do not happen again. The public will need much more than we have heard so far to give confidence that the situation will materially improve.

The hospital and its trust need to look at the whole system, from arrival at A&E, where delays can make the conditions of those needing treatment worse, through the supply and allocation of beds, diagnostic capacity, in-hospital treatment and ultimately discharge. It isn’t right that patients are falling through the gaps at a point where they are so vulnerable.

Beyond Royal Oldham, local health leaders also need to review what impact successive reductions and closures in community provision have had on pressure at A&E, something I and others have been raising over a long period of time.

In Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, local people have seen changes to GP and urgent-care provision over recent years, including the closure of the Oldham Town Centre Urgent Care Walk-in Centre in 2020, Donald Wilde Medical Centre (Coldhurst) in 2021, St Chad’s Medical Practice (Limeside) in 2022, Block Lane Surgery (Freehold) in 2023 and The Duru Practice (Oldham Town Centre) in 2024.

It is also clear that more needs to be done to address what appears to be a lack of mental health support for vulnerable patients who find themselves without the specialist support they need and are directed to A&E and general wards which are simply not set up to deal with the complexity of intervention required. This is poor for the patient and adds to the stress and strain for staff and other patients.

There are good examples of the health system working to offer better care and reduce demand in hospital. For instance, the service offered at Butler Green supports patients across 28 beds on the road to recovery and frees up ward beds in hospital. Same too at Medlock Court. There are also many leading examples of community health care and early intervention which is helping to give care where it is best placed; often at home or in the local community, which is almost certainly reducing demand which would otherwise present to A&E.

Many patient experiences will be positive, and the care and compassion of individual staff will stand out, but it’s clear the trust needs to do much more.

I have requested a meeting with the trust to discuss the recent news reports and the current staffing dispute which has resulted in strike action and the trust declaring a major incident.

Waste crime is blighting communities like ours. It feels like not a week goes by without household, commercial and builders’ waste being dumped across our roads, fields, parks and open spaces.

Horrendous dumping has previously been reported along Crime Lane and continuing on to Stannybook Road, and continues to be reported by constituents in Chadderton Central & Chadderton South. It is not okay and it’s honestly baffling that some people think this is normal behaviour.

Oldham is supposed to be the town in the countryside. Our country lanes and green spaces should not be treated as dumping grounds. That’s why I support the Labour Government’s toughest ever crackdown on waste crime.

Fly-tippers will face tougher penalties, including up to 20 hours of unpaid work cleaning up streets and parks and having to repay the cost of clearing their waste. Environment Agency 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 £𝟯𝟬𝟬 𝘁𝗼 £𝟱,𝟬𝟬𝟬.

Greater Manchester is also set to be one of the first areas to pilot new multi-agency partnerships to tackle waste crime. This builds on Labour relaunching our local Don’t Trash Oldham campaign last year with a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping.

If you make the mess, you’ll clean it up and face the consequences.