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The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham. The borough had a population of 243,912 in 2022, making it the sixth-largest district by population in Greater Manchester.[3] The borough spans 142 square kilometres (55 sq mi).[2]
Geography
Part of Oldham is rural and semi-rural, with a quarter of the borough lying within the Peak District National Park.
The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale lies to the north-west, the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees (of West Yorkshire) to the east, and the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside to the south. The City of Manchester lies directly to the south west and the Derbyshire Borough of High Peak lies directly to the south east, but Derbyshire is only bordered by high moorland near Black Hill and is not accessible by road.[citation needed]
History
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Following both the Local Government Act 1888 and Local Government Act 1894, local government in England had been administered via a national framework of rural districts, urban districts, municipal boroughs and county boroughs, which (apart from the latter which were independent) shared power with strategic county councils of the administrative counties.[6] The areas that were incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in 1974 had formed part of Chadderton Urban District, Crompton Urban District, Failsworth Urban District, Lees Urban District and Royton Urban District from the administrative county of Lancashire, Saddleworth Urban District from the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the politically independent County Borough of Oldham.[7] By the early 1970s, nationally, this system of demarcation was described as "archaic" and "grossly inadequate to keep pace both with the impact of motor travel, and with the huge increases in local government responsibilities".[8] After the exploration of reform, such as the proposals made by the Redcliffe-Maud Report in the late 1960s, the Local Government Act 1972 restructured local government in England by creating a system of two-tier metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties and districts throughout the country.[9] The act formally established the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham as a local government district of the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester on 1 April 1974. The district was granted honorific borough status on 23 November 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, which allowed the council to have a mayor.[10] The new dual local authorities of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council and Greater Manchester County Council had been running since elections in 1973 however.[11] The leading article in The Times on the day the Local Government Act came into effect noted that the "new arrangement is a compromise which seeks to reconcile familiar geography which commands a certain amount of affection and loyalty, with the scale of operations on which modern planning methods can work effectively".[12]
The borough is noted as one of the more unpopular amalgamations of territory created by local government reform in the 1970s.[14][15][13] This being especially true of residents of the parish of Saddleworth who viewed the new arrangement as a "retrograde step".[14] It had been proposed in a government White paper that the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham include the former mill town of Middleton. However this was given to the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale once it was decided that Rochdale and Bury would not be merged.[16] Before its creation, it was suggested that the metropolitan borough be named New Oldham, but that was rejected.[17] For its first 12 years the borough had a two-tier system of local government; Oldham Council shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. Since the Local Government Act 1985 Oldham Council has effectively been a unitary authority, serving as the sole executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local policy, setting council tax, and allocating budget in the district. The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham has two civil parishes and 20 electoral wards. Noted as one of the more unpopular amalgamations of territory created by local government reform in the 1970s,[14][15][13] the Oldham borough underwent a £100,000 rebranding exercise in early 2008. The town has no listed buildings with a Grade I rating,[18] and the borough's architecture has been described as "mediocre".[19] There have been calls for the borough to be renamed,[13][20] but that possibility was dismissed during the rebranding of 2008.[19]
In the early 20th century, following some exchanges of land, there were attempts to amalgamate Chadderton Urban District with the County Borough of Oldham.[21] However, this was resisted by councillors from Chadderton Urban District Council.[21]
The Oldham borough underwent a rebranding exercise in 2008 with a view to improving cross-community unity.[13][20] Officials believed the borough's image was outdated and that "often negative" national media coverage held and continues to hold back businesses and hampers attempts to attract new investors, visitors and external funding.[20] There had been calls for the borough to be renamed to a "settlement-neutral" name (such as those of neighbouring districts of Calderdale, Kirklees and Tameside) as part of the rebranding.[20] However, consultants cited that this idea came from a "vocal minority" wishing to distance themselves from Oldham. The borough name was unchanged.[19]
Council
For the first 12 years after the county was created in 1974, the borough had a two-tier system of local government, and so Oldham Council shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council.[22] The Greater Manchester County Council, a strategic authority running regional services such as transport, strategic planning, emergency services and waste disposal, comprised 106 members drawn from the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester.[23] However, in 1986, along with the five other metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council, the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished, and most of its powers were devolved to the boroughs.[22] Since 1986, Oldham Council has effectively been a unitary authority that serves as the sole executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for setting local policy, and allocating budget. Its duties also include setting levels of council tax, monitoring the health service in the borough, providing social care, and providing funding for schools.[citation needed] The borough's centre of administration is Oldham Civic Centre.[24]
Civil parishes form the bottom tier of statutory local government; the parish councils are involved in planning, management of town and parish centres, and promoting tourism.[25] In 2001, 46,072 people lived in Oldham's two civil parishes—Saddleworth and Shaw and Crompton—20.9% of the borough's population.[26][27] The rest of the borough is unparished.
In 2008 a critical Audit Commission inspection found that Oldham Council's rate of improvement was ‘adequate’ and gave it a two-star rating. It said the rate of improvement had increased but had been "inconsistent".[28]
Since 2011 Oldham is one of the ten member authorities of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) which is a top tier local authority with responsibility for Transport, Health, Housing and Economic matters.[citation needed] The membership of the Combined Authority is drawn from the Leaders or Executive Mayors of each of the ten councils.[citation needed] In December 2012, Oldham was named ‘Most Improved Council’ at the Local Government Chronicle awards.[29] A team of six experienced politicians and officers from the Local Government Association carried out another independent ‘peer review’ of Oldham Council in December 2013. Their report said: "There has been a remarkable transformation in Oldham in recent years, both in terms of the place and in having established an ambitious and effective council. The authority can be proud of what has been achieved."[30]
In February 2014 ex-Council Leader Jim McMahon was named ‘Council Leader of the Year’ by the LGiU thinktank who said his "strong leadership has helped lead to a dramatic improvement in service delivery and correlating significant improvement in resident satisfaction rates."[31]
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Decision making
The council operates a "strong leader" cabinet model, under which the person elected to be the leader of the council personally holds all the executive decision making powers.[32] It a matter of discretion for the leader whether he/she exercises those powers personally or delegates them. Generally decisions are delegated to individual cabinet members or to the council's cabinet.
The cabinet is made up of leader, a deputy leader and up to nine councillors appointed by the leader.[33] The cabinet is responsible for strategic decisions and recommends proposals for approval by full council on the budget, Council tax levels and the council's policy framework.[33]
Some decisions are delegated by council to district executives. There are six districts containing between two and five wards; Chadderton, Failsworth & Hollinwood, Oldham, Royton, Saddleworth & Lees and Shaw & Crompton.[34] Membership of each district executive is drawn from the elected councillors within each district.[citation needed]
Political composition
Since the council's formation it has generally been under the control of the Labour Party. Since 2011, the Labour Party has had overall control and now holds 32 of the 60 seats on the council. [35]
| Party | Seats | Current Council (2018–23) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 |
2019 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lib Dems | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Labour | 47 | 45 | 40 | 35 | 32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conservative | 4 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Outlying towns, villages and suburbs
Aside from Oldham, the borough covers other towns and villages including:
- "Chadderton"
- "Failsworth"
- "Shaw and Crompton
- "Saddleworth" (Which consists of numerous villages and halmets including Delph, Diggle, Dobcross, Greenfield, Grasscroft, Grotton and Springhead)
- "Royton"
- "Glodwick"
- "Werneth"
Electoral wards
The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is divided into 20 electoral wards, each which elects three councillors who generally sit for a four-year term on the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. The twenty wards are: