A few months ago, Fullcircle got in touch about uncertainty over their future at Yew Tree Primary School. Since then, I’ve met with the team, visited their Easter holiday club, and my office has raised concerns at the Chadderton Neighbourhood Board, as well as the council to try and find a way forward.

I’m pleased that Fullcircle have been able to reach a positive agreement which means they can continue operating from the school for now until August 2028, with a formal licence agreement now being prepared.

This gives the organisation that has been delivering brilliant youth provision in our borough for 15 years some much-needed stability and means they can continue supporting young people and families in our community.

There is still work to do. This is a temporary solution and Fullcircle will need to find a permanent home in the years ahead. I’ll continue alongside Cllr Graham Shuttleworth to support them as they develop their long-term plans and secure a sustainable future.

A big thank you to everyone who approached this constructively and helped find a practical solution. Most importantly, young people in Chadderton can continue to benefit from the fantastic work Becci, Dawn and the Fullcircle team does every day.

I’ve written to Oldham Council calling for an active strategy to protect historic pubs from demolition and inappropriate conversion.

Pubs are an important part of Oldham’s story, our heritage, and the character of the communities we call home.

Regeneration matters but so does preserving the buildings and landmarks that give our borough its identity. Though not everything can be saved, most precious regeneration activity has sought to retained pubs because of the often distinct character they have. In many working class areas they are often the buildings which stand out alongside civic buildings like libraries, and churches as architecturally interesting. We shouldn’t be wiping away our history in the name of progress.

As Co-operative Party Chair and when English Devolution & Local Government Minister, I helped secure a strengthened Community Right to Buy through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, giving local people more power to protect valued community assets and important buildings of heritage.

We got great examples of regeneration into heritage buildings such as Royton Town Hall, the Old Gallery and the Old Town Hall as civic buildings, and work is underway to secure the future of Foxdenton Hall. We’ve also a seen significant investment in grassroots facilities including AVRO FC and West End Street pitch. We now need to widen the protection to pubs and support to local heritage community assets.

I’m asking the council to take a proactive approach, review pubs across the borough for Asset of Community Value status where appropriate, and put proper protections in place before more of these important buildings are lost.

We’ve successfully secured £61m as a new national Community Ownership Fund to support local groups take control of local facilities, so there’s plenty of potential to bring more investment to Oldham.

I’m keen to protect what we have and drawn in investment for them to thrive.

Congratulations to Bev Craig who has been selected as the Labour candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester.

It’s one of the most important roles in politics and with more and more devolved power and responsibility it has huge potential.

She’s done great as Leader of Manchester City Council and will be an impactful mayor if elected in the upcoming by-election.

Best of luck!

Great to welcome Andy Burnham back to Parliament as the new Labour and Co-operative MP for Makerfield.

Fair to say he received a great reception!

I want to thank Keir Starmer for his public service and for the positive change he has delivered since becoming the Leader of the Labour Party.

I regret that we are here. After 14 years in opposition and a historic majority winning election just two years ago, we had the opportunity to deliver the change working people deserved and voted for.

We’ve achieved a programme we can be proud of, and in politics it can be a little too easy to skirt over these in search of the latest intrigue or drama, of which this is clearly a heightened moment.

Investment in the NHS has reduced waiting lists. Expanding free school meals and ending the two-child benefit limit has helped lift children out of poverty. We have brought rail ownership back into public hands, taken a different approach to international crises standing much more confidently on issues like Iran, and challenged social media companies to do more to protect children online.

We have to be honest about where we needed to be better. There was too much of the last two years which were marked by basic political errors of judgement followed by u-turns, and caution suppressing conviction.

We also cannot ignore the message which came loud and clear in the recent May elections. Even with good local records our councillors and candidates couldn’t withstand the mood against the government and they deserved better.

In 2024 people voted for Labour for bold change and for an end to the status quo which held them back and meant working life was getting harder and harder. We need to be bolder on building an economy that works for working people, and rebuild public services so that we aren’t constantly paying for failure while communities go without the basic services they deserve.

That requires not just a policy change but a cultural change. Everything we do has to make a difference to the lives and communities of those who Labour was created to represent; working people.

We have a short amount of time to show people that we have listened, learned, and are ready to act.

I wish Keir well in what follows for him personally.

Landlords looking to cash in on the housing crisis and temporary accommodation gold rush are rushing to convert any building possible to HMOs regardless of the impact on local communities and very often with no thought to the building they are converting.

They remove family homes and community facilities from the market and rather than being a solution to the housing crisis they are contributing to it.

Other areas are rejecting applications, especially for family home conversions, and even for commercial buildings like pubs and Oldham needs to follow.

Government need to give greater powers to reject applications for HMOs and protect councils against the cost of appeals but there are already grounds which can be used to reject planning applications on legitimate grounds.

There will be good examples of conversions, but the standard in Oldham simply sees stable family homes once well kept turned into transient come and go communities where the properties lay poorly converted and ill maintained. They see valued community facilities lost and they fundamentally change the character of areas against the wishes of local people.

Oldham should say clearly to all would-be developers and landlords that enough is enough.

Article link: https://www.theoldhamtimes.co.uk/news/26211559.residents-oppose-hmo-plans-chadderton-chip-shop/

A quick round-up of my week down in Westminster and beyond.

𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲
Following a ministerial statement on proposals to restrict social media access for under-16s which I welcome, we need robust regulation to tackle hate, misinformation and harmful content properly, hold platforms accountable for what happens on them, and consider whether platform owners should be subject to a fit and proper person test.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸
I joined UNISON’s annual conference in Brighton to discuss the cost of working and the campaign for fairer mileage rates at a fringe event. After sustained campaigning alongside UNISON, the RAC Foundation and others, we’ve secured the first increase in HMRC mileage rates in 15 years. A real win, but there is more to do with the government’s wider review ahead of the next budget.

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝘅
Tuesday marked ten years since the murder of Jo Cox MP. Jo’s belief that we have far more in common than that which divides us remains as important today as it was then. Her legacy continues to inspire many of us across public life in times which feel more divided than ever.

𝗖𝗼-𝗼𝗽 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝗚𝗠
I was also pleased to attend the Co-operative Party’s Annual General Meeting. At a time when many people feel politics isn’t working for them, the co-operative values of self-help, mutuality and community ownership matter more than ever.

𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹
This week members voted on the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. As more of our lives move online, this overhaul is needed to ensure we stronger protections for the critical services, businesses and infrastructure we all rely on. I intervened in the debate in the chamber about what the government is doing to ensure local government can recruit the talent needed to ensure cyber security.

𝗧𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗹𝘆-𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴
At a Delegated Legislation Committee this week, I spoke in support of the Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026. Fly-tipping is a blight on communities and these changes will help track waste more effectively and crack down on rogue operators.

After a good couple of days in Makerfield for Andy Burnham’s emphatic by-election win, it’s now on to another busy week ahead.