Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
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For the main settlement, see Oldham.
The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham, but covers a far larger area totaling 55 square miles (142.4 km²),[1] which includes the towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton, and Shaw and Crompton. The borough also includes the village of Lees and the parish of Saddleworth. The borough was formed in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of seven former local government districts. The borough has two civil parishes and 20 electoral wards. The borough, which lies directly to the northeast of the City of Manchester, has a population of 217,393, and although some parts are highly industrialised and densely populated, contiguous with one of the United Kingdom's major cities, around two thirds of the borough consists of rural open space, for the most part due the territory in the eastern half stretching across the Pennine hills. Noted as one of the more unpopular amalgamations of territory created by local government reform in the 1970s,[2][3][4] the Oldham borough is undergoing a £50,000 rebranding exercise. There have been calls for the borough to be renamed as part of the rebranding.[5][4]
HistoryImage:OldhamBoroughsNumbered.png
Areas of the borough: 1.Oldham 2.Lees 3.Failsworth 4.Chadderton 5.Royton 6.Shaw and Crompton 7.Saddleworth.
The borough was formed on April 1, 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 as one of the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester. It was created by the amalgamation of the County Borough of Oldham along with the Chadderton Urban District, Crompton Urban District, Failsworth Urban District and Lees Urban District from the administrative county of Lancashire and the Saddleworth Urban District from the administrative county of Yorkshire, West Riding. Though the Act of Parliament centralised the local governance of a number of settlements to Oldham, it was not the first time that political governance, administration or geographic demarcation has been shared by Oldham and its outlying settlements. In 1212, Oldham and Shaw and Crompton formed part of the thegnage estate of Kaskenmoor, which was held on behalf of King John by Roger de Montbegon and William de Nevill. Ecclesiastically, Oldham, Royton, Chadderton and Crompton formed townships, firstly within the parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham, and later within the parish of Oldham, within the hundred of Salfordshire, sharing a mother church at Oldham. Saddleworth at this time was linked with Rochdale parish, and Failsworth with Manchester parish, both of Salfordshire. The Representation of the People Act 1832 created the Oldham Parliamentary Borough which returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons representing Oldham, Chadderton, Crompton, Royton, and Lees. The Oldham Coalfield spanned from Royton in the north, through Oldham to Middleton and Chadderton in the west. The Oldham post town is shared by all parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, apart from Failsworth. In the early 20th century, following some exchanges of land, there were attempts to amalgamate Chadderton Urban District with the County Borough of Oldham.[6] However, this was resisted by councillors from Chadderton Urban District Council.[6] It was proposed in a government White paper that the metropolitan borough include the 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.[7] It was also suggested that the area be named the "Metropolitan Borough of Newham", the "Metropolitan Borough of Milltown" or the "Metropolitan Borough of the West Pennines". These names raised strong objections from local communities however.[citation needed] The borough is often noted as one of the more unpopular amalgamations of territory created by local government reform in the 1970s.[2][3][4] This being especially true of residents of the parish of Saddleworth.[2] The Oldham brorough is undergoing a £50,000 rebranding exercise.[5][4] Officials believe the borough's image is outdated and that "often negative" national media coverage holds back businesses and hampers attempts to attract new investors, visitors and external funding.[5] There have 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.[5] GovernanceThe local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. The district was granted Borough status in the United Kingdom on 23 November 1973 by Her Majesty the Queen, which allows the Council to have a Mayor.[8] Image:Ombc logo.gif
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council Corporate Logo, designed in 1974 by David McRae.[4]
The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is divided into twenty electoral wards, each which elects three councillors who generally sit for a four year term on the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. These democratically elected councillors together form the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, a body with direct local administrative responsibilities, equivalent to that of a Unitary Authority. The twenty wards are:
Coat of armsImage:Oldham coat of arms.jpg
Oldham council's coat of arms, seen here in the foyer of the Civic Centre.
The Coat of arms of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council is based closely upon the historic family crest of Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter and founder of the Manchester Grammar School. They feature an owl holding a scroll bearing the letters "Dom", making a name-pun "Owl-Dom" typical of the medieval period. The pun reflects the original pronunciation of the name, and is still reflected in the local pronunciation of "Ow'dom". The pun is repeated in the town's Latin mottos: the older one reads "Haud (pronounced "owd") Facile Captu" (meaning "Not easily caught"), and the motto Sapere Aude (meaning "Dare to be wise" — the "Aude" also being pronounced "Owd"). Parliamentary representationThe boundaries of three parliamentary constituencies cover the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. These are:
Geography
The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale lies to the 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. ParishesShowing status at March 31, 1974, (prior to the Local Government Act 1972 taking effect).
Unparished areasShowing former status.
Demography
The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is the fifth most populous borough of Greater Manchester, and the borough with the highest proportion of people under fifteen years of age.[9] Almost 12% of people in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham are of South Asian heritage, the highest proportion of a borough of Greater Manchester,[9]. The following table outlines the total population of the borough since 1801.
PoliticsOldham Metropolitan Borough Council has been criticized in recent years by the independent Audit Commission. In 2005, it was categorized as "weak" but "improving well" by the Audit Commission.[10] It was awarded only two stars, placing it within the bottom third of councils in the country according to perceived performance.[11] According to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council sets the highest council tax rates in Greater Manchester. It has the second highest council tax rates of the metropolitan areas, and is placed as the 16th highest rate of council tax in England.[12] In response to these findings, on the 30 March 2006, the Oldham Labour Group of Councillors took out a full page advertisement in the Oldham Advertiser. Among the claims of the advertisement were that they were providing the borough with a "star studded service" despite the fact they were awarded the second worst achievable rating by the commission. Furthermore, they claimed the social services were also "star rated" despite being classified as "weak". Council Leader David Jones was said to be pleased with the Commission's findings and is quoted as saying "It is just the beginning, but it shows we are on the way to being an excellent Council". However, one of the points of the advert was to contrast the position when the Liberal Democrats had control of the Council in 2002. Then the Audit Commission reported the council was "very weak" and in 2002 the Liberal Democrats raised Oldham's council tax by 12.3%. In 2007 it was recorded to be the second worst performing local authority in England for providing customer satisfaction.[13] Compared across Greater Manchester, the borough council was last for overall satisfaction and cleanliness, second worst for complaints, and third from last for recycling and waste collection. Education
There are around 161 schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.[9] Overall, Oldham was ranked 90th out of the all the Local Education Authoritys in SATs performance and 8th in Greater Manchester in 2006.[14] In 2007, the Oldham LEA was ranked 122nd out of 148 in the country—and 8th in Greater Manchester—based on the percentage of pupils attaining at least 5 A*-C grades at GCSE including maths and English (35.4% compared with the national average of 45.8%).[15] Schools in the borough of Oldham include: SecondarySpecial Needs Schools
Further and Higher education
Places of interestIn 2001, there were 8 Grade II* listed buildings, and 521 Grade II in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, and thirty-six Conservation Areas.[16] Although the borough has no Grade I listed buildings, it does have the second highest number of Grade II buildings in Greater Manchester behind Manchester.[17] The listed buildings range from former weaver's cottages in Saddleworth to some of the large former cotton mills in the West of the borough through to fine civic buildings such as the Old Town Hall in Oldham town centre. Also in the borough are five of Greater Manchester's Sites of Special Scientific Interest, they are a section of Dark Peak,[18] the Ladcastle and Den Quarries,[19] the Lowside Brickworks,[20] the Rochdale Canal,[21] and part of the South Pennine Moors.[22] TransportThere are three railway lines that serve places in the Oldham borough; one is the main line service running between Huddersfield and Manchester, with Greenfield railway station the only station served by this line in the borough. The other two lines form the Manchester to Rochdale via Oldham Line service. One line is the main line service running between Bradford and Manchester via Halifax and Rochdale, with Mills Hill railway station the only station in Oldham served. The other line is the Rochdale/Shaw to Manchester Victoria services via Oldham Mumps. The express route serves Shaw and Crompton railway station and Oldham Mumps railway station, while the slower service serves Shaw and Crompton, Derker, Oldham Mumps, Oldham Werneth, Hollinwood and Failsworth stations. There are many bus services running in the Oldham borough. The main bus operator is First Manchester, whose HQ is based in Oldham at Wallshaw Street, which is located at Oldham Mumps Bridge. Twin TownsThe Borough of Oldham has formal twinning arrangements with three European places:[23] Each was originally twinned with a place within the Metropolitan Borough boundaries prior to its creation in 1974.
See alsoReferences
External links
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