School saga: sense being seen at last?

THE FRIDAY THING: IT may well prove to be a false dawn (this is, after all, Saddleworth) but there is cause for cautious optimism that those who wanted to move Saddleworth School from Uppermill to a totally unsuitable site in Diggle are losing the argument.

We were told only a few weeks ago that moving the school to Diggle was already a done deal - but that turns out to be no more than wishful thinking on the part of those who seem to have had an agenda of their own, and dismissed the fact that planning permission for Diggle hadn’t been, and might not be, granted.

There is a significant amount of money waiting in the wings for those who see the opportunity to build homes rather than a school on the present school site; fine for the developers, but what about the local businesses in Uppermill that will suffer losses when the school’s youngsters go elsewhere: not that Diggle is exactly bursting with tuck shops.

Politicians from Oldham and Saddleworth have all taken sides in this long-running debate and it would be interesting to know just what they will get out of it.

The debate still has some way to run. If common sense is to have its welcome way, there are benefits for schoolchildren and for local businesses too. So let’s hope it does.



I WAS hugely amused this week by the words of Professor Stephen Glaister who is, apparently, the RAC Foundation Director. According to the professor, parking fines are for one thing only: reducing congestion.

You, like me, might think the real point of parking charges is to fill the coffers of local authorities, to give them cash to spend on personal projects.

Says the professor: “Councils should not measure success by how many tickets they issue. In fact, such a huge number of penalties could signify failure.”

But who fails? Certainly not the local authorities.

So how much is congestion reduced by the fines for motorists and how much money can, say, Oldham Council pocket from our parking sins?

Well, as of last year Oldham Council had received £1.8 million from three years of parking fines, including £600,000 last year - the highest amount outside Manchester city centre.

Across Greater Manchester £25million in parking fines was paid in under three years. Solely, apparently, in the interests of reducing congestion.

The six words that immediately come to mind are; “go”, “on”, “pull” “the” “other” and “one”.

Councils need to ask why so many drivers are breaking the law and question whether their parking enforcement policy is actually fair and proportionate.

Maybe the good professor and his team should ask the motorists. Oh, and wear a crash helmet and body armour if he does.