Last week, I met with Oldham Council, MUSE, and Homes England to discuss the ambitious plans for regenerating Oldham Town Centre. The focus is clear: breathing new life into our high streets, revitalising key landmarks like Spindles and the Old Town Hall, and delivering quality, affordable homes that will bring people back into the heart of our town.

We’ve already seen major investment transforming the town centre—first with the restoration of the Old Town Hall, then the reopening of the Egyptian Room, and now the near-completion of the new market and events space on the old TJ Hughes site. The refurbishment of the Old Library is also well underway, with the new civic centre set to be based there.

And the progress doesn’t stop there. Over 2,000 new homes are planned, stretching from where the Civic Centre currently stands down to Princes Gate at Mumps. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape Oldham for the better.

I know that some people, myself included, will feel a sense of loss with the original Queen Elizabeth Hall and Tommyfield Market making way for these changes, they both hold great memories and are such an important feature of the town. But their legacy will live on, with a new events hall and a fresh, modern market space set to take their place, adding up to boost traders and retailers and restaurants and cafes in and around Parliament Square.

With these developments moving forward—and the much-anticipated return of the Coliseum—Oldham is on the brink of a real transformation. There’s plenty still to do, but the future of our town centre is looking brighter than ever!

I responded to an excellent debate on Coalfield communities in Parliament this week.

Many industrial communities have links to coal including Oldham where over 150 colliery’s are reported to have been in operation to power the mills and factories which made the town an industrial giant through the 19th and 20th century. Without the work of the colliers there wouldn’t have been the energy to power the Industrial Revolution, and Oldham and large parts of the industrial North would not exist in its current form, our own town taking it’s place as King of Cotton.

You’ll likely know the most local to you, they were fairly plentiful across Chadderton, Royton and Oldham in Hollinwood and Bardsley.

Clearly the use of coal for power and home heating diminished, but I still have memories having it delivered and going to the coal yard at Hunt Lane in Chadderton in the 1990’s.

The debate was focused on the communities where mining was the foundation industry in the main and huge impact once they closed from the mid 1980’s onwards.

𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡.

Today the social and economic scars are still visible and MPs are rightly demanding better planned long term investment.

In the end it should go hand in hand with devolution where power, investment and impact is felt locally, ending the wasteful bidding wars for limited pots of money and false promises of levelling up.

Today the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero have committed to cut energy bills in private rented homes, tackle fuel poverty and keep money in working people’s pockets.

The Government has pushed for landlords to meet energy efficiency standards rather than make renters fit the bill. This initiative will save renters £240 a year on average on their energy bills, and lift up to half a million households out of fuel poverty, as they will not have to spend so much heating cold, draughty homes.

High energy costs contribute to a situation where lower income households can’t afford to heat their homes. This can have huge knock on health effects, with cold homes presenting health risks particularly to those most vulnerable in society. Being able to heat your home in the winter should not be a luxury reserved for the richest in our society – everyone deserves a warm, decent home.

In Oldham, 15% of households currently present as living in fuel poverty, and this is a figure I am committed to driving down to ensure decent homes and fair renters rights across our borough. I will continue to work with the Government and local businesses to tackle fuel poverty head on, and ensure everyone in Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton has a decent home.

All eyes were on the announcement of the Devolution Priority Programme in light of our Department’s announcement of six more devolution agreements being reached. Taking into account the existing agreement to work towards a mayoral authority in Lancashire, it represents the single biggest package of devolution for England. In this way we’re delivering our pledge to widen devolution to the whole of England.

Most of the meetings aren’t seen, rightly they are for 121 meetings with councils and MPs, and given the weeks business this meant meeting with MPs across the range of counties in line for devolution, and each of the councils who have agreed to go ahead too.

The biggest moment of the year is almost certainly the Local Government Finance Settlement in the Chamber, a settlement which puts local authorities back on a stable financial footing with £69 billion of funding in total, and ready to begin the recovery so that Councils can deliver better frontline public services for their communities.

Before heading back to the constituency I took the backbench business debate on government support for coalfield communities. The social and economic scars are still visible today and MPs are rightly demanding better planned long term investment. Through devolution and investment, we can put right this injustice.

More widely, £2.6 billion was announced for our flood defences to save lives and livelihoods in every region of the country, along with an announcement to give millions of workers a pay rise – fulfilling our promise to Make Work Pay and improve living standards across the country.

With a day of advice surgeries and visit on housing development in Oldham town centre planned, it’s a great finish to an already busy week.

It was great to open the debate on the Local Government Finance Settlement in the Chamber yesterday. This represents the start of recovery, not the end.

From my time as Oldham Council Leader during austerity, I know the huge impact local government cuts have on vital public services which many vulnerable people rely on. However, after 14 years of decline under the Tories, Labour is acting in power to change course.

We are ensuring greater financial stability through the first multi-year settlement in over a decade and rebuilding public services with over £5bn additional funding to start fixing the foundations.

For too long, Westminster churn has created chaos for local authorities, but now with stability, security and investment: Labour are creating long term stability for councils like Oldham all across our country.

“𝙄𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙭 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙜𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.”

We are well on with deepening and widening devolution in England, and this week we presented the largest single package of mayoral devolution to date.

𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀

I’m delighted that the work already underway in Lancashire before the devolution priority programme was established, and with the new additions of Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington, it will mean that the whole of the North of England will be covered by mayoral devolution once completed.

𝗪𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

They join Greater Essex, East Anglia with Norfolk and Suffolk, Hampshire and the Solent, and Sussex and Brighton, with mayoral elections planned for May 2026. Surrey will undergo local government reorganisation to unlock devolution.

Those in two tier areas in this new devolution priority programme will have elections postponed, as has been the case in previous rounds of local government reorganisation where the existing council will cease to exist, before electing to new shadow authorities once proposals are agreed. The bar for this unlocking devolution was rightly high, meaning not all of the applications were approved.

𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽

Taken with new mayoral devolution agreements in Hull and East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire which go to the polls to elect mayors in May this year, and foundation agreements in counties across the country, it shows the ambition to hit the ground running.

The work of local leaders to forge agreement has been significant and it is credit to them across political parties which reflects a shared ambition to break from the centralising culture in politics which hoards power and opportunity.

𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲

The programme will also see an ambitious timeline to carry out local government reorganisation to create strong, more efficient and accountable unitary councils, with more resources directed to frontline services.

And going further we have started the statutory invitation process to all two tier council areas to be part of the wider local government reorganisation programme, with all local elections planned for May 2025 going ahead as usual.

Coupled with work to allocate multi-year funding settlements and reform to how councils are funded, so that it better reflects need, deprivation and the local tax base, and the cost of service delivery, for instance in rural areas, it offers a chance to give long term stability and provide better local public services.

This week marks the first local government finance settlement under your Labour government, and I am proud as Minister of State to begin the work of turning the tide on a decade of decline, giving councils the support they need.

For Oldham, this marks a significant change in fortunes. No new government can turn around 14 years in just six months, but we can change course, and show we are determined to make a difference so that local people can see and feel better local public services in their own community.

𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙

This year, Oldham’s “Core Spending Power” will increase by £25.4 million or 9.5% on last year. This means the total funding available is worth £2,950 per household for local public services, including Council Tax.

Of this, £48.2 million is NEW grant funding for social care, including £2.2 million to invest in children’s social care preventative services.

Oldham will receive £2.9 million through a combination of other grants.

And like many other places which has been hit by rocketing demand, but a historically lower property value council tax base, Oldham will receive a £8 million Recovery Grant top up to help recover to financial strength. This is the first time this grant has been paid, and shows the change in direction to get funding where it is needed.

𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩

This is the start of the recovery, not the end, and we will come forward with plans for greater financial security by giving councils the first multi-year funding settlement in over a decade, rather than year by year, hand to mouth allocations, and we will drive further devolution so more of what is allocated gets decided on locally, not in Whitehall.

I want to thank Oldham councillors for steering the borough through the past decade, often fighting alone to safeguard vital public services, but we’ve all seen the impact of rocketing demand for social care, children’s services and temporary accommodation hit hard, and the financial squeeze then reducing local neighbourhood services which make the borough and it’s towns a good place to live, the strain is clear.

I’ll do all I can to make the case for the value of decent, safe and clean places to the proud of, and to support the council to turn the tide.