Closure haste down to Sunday library move - claim

Reporter: Oldham Council Cabinet by KAREN DOHERTY
Date online: 11 June 2009

THE LIBERAL Democrats have been accused of closing Broadway Library in order to open the town centre library and art gallery on Sundays.

The decison is part of a £2.5 million plan to transform the town centre’s image and boost civic pride by entering Britain in Bloom and improving the Christmas celebrations. Opening Gallery Oldham, Oldham Library and the tourist information centre based in the shared building from 10am to 4pm on Sundays would cost £108,275 a year.

Councillor John McCann explained: “I think this is one of the first steps to improve the town centre shambles which we inherited. It is vital we try and put some services into the town centre to attract families.

“We have a major image problem. This is one of the things, for a comparatively small amount of money, that could be a step to improving it.”

However, Labour’s Dave Hibbert argued there was no evidence of demand for Sunday opening. And he said its £54,000 cost for the remainder of this year was roughly the amount saved by closing Broadway Library last month.

He accused the Lib-Dems of centralising services and said: “We now know the reason for your inappropriate and damaging haste in achieving the denial of a quality service to my constituents.”

Councillor Hibbert also argued that £200,000 earmarked for Britain in Bloom should instead be spent on so-called alleygating projects to cut crime.

However, Councillor Jackie Stanton said Britain in Bloom was supported by the public.

She added: “You are completely off the mark on this. We went to Bury, Bolton, Tameside and Stockport.

“Their town centres are immaculate and instil pride. Isn’t that what we are about?”


Core values don’t come cheap


WHAT’S the difference between a core value and a core belief?

That was one of the questions discussed at ten workshops as part of a £10,000 drive to improve Oldham Council’s customer service.

The Trust Oldham Programme has designated more than 100 staff as leaders for the programme following 23 sessions for more than 500 workers.

They then took part in a two-day workshop while ten “Our Future Today” workshops were also held.

The result is a list of “core values and behaviours” for the council such as: we provide services that benefit the citizens of Oldham, we give support to each other to be the best we can, we are open and honest in all our activities and we will do what we say.

They are backed by examples of good and bad ways of doing things including sharing information with others, honouring commitments and valuing citizens rather than purposefully keeping people in the dark, leaving commitments unfulfilled and treating citizens disrespectfully.

Council leader Howard Sykes said the aim was to improve customer service by outlining the standards expected.

He said: “My postbag is full of people who, for whatever reason, feel they haven’t been treated right by this council. Until we do this part of the work, how can we actually discipline people or encourage people to behave the way we want them to?”

Opposition cabinet member Councillor Dave Hibbert supported the move, but described some of the statements as silly and had concerns about the time and money spent on the exercise.


Housing vision

A VISION has been drawn up to make sure Oldham has the right kind of housing.

It includes the already proposed transfer of the borough’s 12,000 council homes to a housing association to bring in £448 million of investment over 30 years. Other targets are reducing empty homes and a one-stop-shop for housing services.

However, the Tories are disappointed that there are no plans to build new council houses which they believe needs to be done to meet demand.