Can A Broken Town Be Fixed?

There is no doubt that Oldham is a broken, and divided town.

I truly believe that the major part of that reason lies with it's completely unfit for purpose council; be it badly thought out planning, grossly over budgeted ego projects or even total ignorance with the findings of the Ritchie Report. Oldham was once the largest cotton producing town in the world Over 30% of Oldham's population was employed in the cotton industry in over 360 mills. As a side effect the North excelled in engineering, and Platts was the biggest producer of cotton machinery in the world and also Oldham's biggest employer. What many do not know is that Platts invested in a patent of a Japanese designed piece of loom equipment developed by a Mr Toyoda who used the money from Platts to start a motor company he called "Toyota". Even the creation of Alexandra Park is a fantastic story, sparked by the American Civil War - best told here:-

Story of Alexandra Park

What has all this to do with now you ask? Because history has a profound effect on a town and the mindset of it's people. As a result of the above, Oldham founded and nurtured one of the largest, most popular markets in the country at Tommyfield. We invented the rag pudding, as well as 'arguably inventing fish and chips', the tubular bandage was born here as was the first test tube baby! All this has combined to make the people of Oldham proud, loyal and hardworking folk, with every reason to be proud of their heritage. Our council and planners are what killed our pride. Their combined incompetence repeated over and over again, destroying our market, neglecting our beautiful old buildings until demolition is the only recourse, or over budgeting on an unsuccessful cinema complex or other ego driven projects like water sculptures that don't work! Yet their excuses are, and remain pitiful. You only have to look at the current state of affairs with Oldham Council, and it's incompetence and yes, corruption too, has been going on since at least the 70's.

So how do we fix it? How do you fix a broken heart and wounded pride? A heart transplant?

If you ask the vast majority of dyed in the wool Oldhamers what the major problem is with the town and where it started, I recon 90% will say they killed our town centre and our market with neglect and mismanagement and now it's dead! I agree. I believe that is where you need to start, the market was not only the heart of Oldham, it was a 'popular and desired destination' for coach parties as far afield as Wales - (now downgraded to a possible Lidl) not an M&S at Mumps or a hotel, or a cinema complex. Now I am no town planner, but based on the dubious recruitment criteria employed by this council, I am probably as 'qualified' as the previous post holder who made a complete mess of the town and then disappeared to escape a formal enquiry. But here goes; firstly, all the empty units in Spindles and Town Square are NOT the councils responsibility (sort of) They are owned by American companies, in fact Town Square is owned by the same people that own The Rock in Bury. But...... would you move into a nice new house that was right beside a rubbish dump? Obviously not, and that is just what the businesses are seeing when they look at the empty units in the above. AMENDMENT In October 2020, despite the town being rated as the worst Covid infected town in the country, the town councils leader, councillor Sean Fielding performed a list of incompetent actions which included 'pleading poverty and asking the government for a 20 million pound bailout whilst simultaneously hiring celebrity actors to make Covid information films yet also asking for voluntary redundancies in the council' 'Announced more investment into a section of the failing, over budget ego project cinema complex by turning a previously unlettable section into a food hall' His swansong was then to announce the council had bought the mostly empty Spindles shopping centre for an undisclosed sum! Something else has a profound effect on a town centre, it's whats known as 'footfall'. Think of a street that has every sort of shop you need on it, so no need to go anywhere else, most people go there, the shops do very well, the council do well due to all the money coming into the street, the streets economy grows, property value goes up as well as desire because every business wants a shop on that street, you can apply that same logic to a town. So, how do we give Oldham a heart transplant? We remove the car park that was once our great market; we build a new outdoor market, where stall rentals are subsidised along with any other overheads... maybe build a brand new, bigger market hall and do the same. Now I know people will say that this wont work because of the lack of racial integration, yes it's a barrier, yet it's a barrier that Bolton, a town with a similar demographic has overcome. Now you can go into Bolton's market and find Chinese, Indian, African and even Japanese stalls and a food hall, very much on a par with Bury but more multi cultural.

What you do not do is integrate a transport system that doesn't go to the town centre but actually encourages people to avoid it, and then try and move the historical centre of the town to a place half a mile down Yorkshire street to compensate for your own idiocy! Remember footfall, remember Town Square and Spindles? Will it work? Well, I'm no planner, but a few years ago Bolton was in a similar position and invested 26 million pounds into it's markets, it was so successful they are now looking to invest a further BILLION into the town!! Is it worth a try? Well, if you consider the new fangled not very successful 32 million budget overspend McMahon ego project cinema complex, and compare it to something that the people have wanted for years, then yes!

What baffles and bemuses me is the fact that local governments have a vest amount of resources to draw on in order to change and improve things for the people they supposedly represent. There are towns in this country that are not much different to our own in terms of urban/rural settings, or access to transport links and more importantly a population that in the main has a desire to encourage and support positive change. Towns that have faced similar challenges and that have addressed them and thrived. WHY does Oldham Council not engage with these towns to learn from them and bring back proven methods to kickstart the local economy? Is that really too much of stretch...?