Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

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Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

Shown within England
Geography
Status	Metropolitan Borough
Metropolitan county	Greater Manchester
Ceremonial county	Greater Manchester
Historic county	Lancashire (Some parts from Yorkshire)
Region	North West England
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Area - Total	Ranked 213th 142.36 km²
Admin HQ	Oldham(Civic Centre)
ISO 3166-2	GB-OLD
ONS code	00BP
OS grid reference	SD922053
Coordinates	53°32N 2°07W
NUTS 3	UKD32
Demographics
Population: Total (2005 est.) Density	Ranked 56th 219,200 1,540 / km²
Ethnicity (2001 census)	86.1% White 11.9% S.Asian
Politics
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council http://www.oldham.gov.uk/
Leadership	Leader & Cabinet
Control	Labour

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham, but covers a far larger area totalling fifty-five square miles (142.36 km²),^[1] which includes the towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Lees, Royton, and Shaw and Crompton. The borough also includes the parish of Saddleworth.

The borough was formed as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of seven former local government districts, which today, form the basis for the local authority's civic logo, which has seven distinct squares.

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 densly populated, contiguous with one of England's major cities, around two thirds of the borough consists of rural open space, for the most part due the terrotory in the western half stretching across the Pennine hills.

Contents 1 Creation 2 Neighbouring districts 3 Parliamentary representation 4 Local administration 4.1 Parishes 4.2 Unparished areas 4.3 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council 5 Coat of Arms 6 Demographics 7 Politics 8 Education 8.1 Primary schools 8.2 Secondary 8.3 Further and Higher education 9 Listed buildings 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Creation

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 merger 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 the West Riding of Yorkshire. Prior to the implementation of the Act in 1974, it was proposed that the area be named the "Metropolitan Borough of Newham", or the "Metropolitan Borough of Milltown". These names raised strong objections from local communities.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Neighbouring districts

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.

[edit] Parliamentary representation

The boundaries of three parliamentary constituencies cover the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. These are:

• Oldham East and Saddleworth represented by Phil Woolas MP (which also covers parts of Milnrow in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale)
• Oldham West and Royton represented by Michael Meacher MP.
• Ashton-under-Lyne represented by David Heyes MP (which predominantly covers the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, but also Failsworth of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham).

[edit] Local administration

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is locally administrated by the appropriately named Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, and was formed in 1974 by the conjoining of the following seven areas:

[edit] Parishes

Showing status at March 31, 1974, (prior to the Local Government Act 1972 taking effect).

1. Saddleworth (Saddleworth Urban District)
2. Shaw and Crompton (Crompton Urban District)

[edit] Unparished areas

Showing former status.

1. Chadderton (Chadderton Urban District)
2. Failsworth (Failsworth Urban District)
3. Lees (Lees Urban District)
4. Oldham (County Borough of Oldham)
5. Royton (Royton Urban District)

[edit] Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council

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 council. The twenty wards are:

• Alexandra
• Chadderton Central
• Chadderton North
• Chadderton South
• Coldhurst
• Crompton
• Failsworth East
• Failsworth West
• Hollinwood
• Medlock Vale
• Royton North
• Royton South
• Saddleworth North
• Saddleworth South
• Saddleworth West & Lees
• St James
• St Marys
• Shaw
• Waterhead
• Werneth

See maps illustrating warding of Oldham

[edit] Coat of Arms

The Coat of arms (seen in infobox) 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 current motto Sapere Aude (meaning "Dare to be wise" — the "Aude" also being pronounced "Owd").

[edit] Demographics

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.^[2]

Almost 12% of people in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham are of South Asian heritage, the highest proportion of a borough of Greater Manchester,^[3] and, after Blackburn and Darwen, the second largest in the United Kingdom.

The following table outlines the total population of the borough since 1801.

Year	1801	1821	1851	1871	1901	1921	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001
Population	41,472	59,615	77,350	158,244	244,138	250,794	223,982	224,005	224,071	219,462	219,613	217,393
Source: Vision of Britain

[edit] Politics

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council has been been criticized in recent years by the independent Audit Commission.<. In 2005, it was categorized as "weak" but "improving well" by the Audit Commission.^[4] It was awarded only two stars, placing it within the bottom third of councils in the country according to perceived performance.^[5]

According to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council currently sets the highest council tax rates in Greater Manchester. It has the second highest council tax rates of the metropolitan areas, and is currently placed as the 16th highest rate of council tax in England.^[6]

In response to these findings, on the 30th 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 perfoming local authority in England for providing customer satisfaction.^[7] 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.

[edit] Education

This is a list of secondary schools and colleges in the entire Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. For schools within the main settlement, see Oldham.

There are around 161 schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.^[8] Including:

[edit] Primary schools

• Buckstones Primary School
• Crompton Primary School

[edit] Secondary

• Blue Coat School
• Breeze Hill School
• Crompton House [4]
• Counthill School
• Grange School [5]
• Hulme Grammar School
• Kaskenmoor School
• North Chadderton School
• Our Lady's R.C. High School
• Royton and Crompton School
• Saddleworth School
• South Chadderton School
• St Augustine of Canterbury R.C. High School
• The Hathershaw College
• The Radclyffe School[6]

[edit] Further and Higher education

• Oldham Sixth Form College [7]
• The Oldham College [8]
• University Centre Oldham

[edit] Listed buildings

There are over seven-hundred Listed Buildings in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, and thirty-six Conservation Areas.^[9]

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.

[edit] References

1. ^ Oldham Division, GMP. URL accessed December 15, 2006.
2. ^ BOROUGH PROFILE: Oldham, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, 2002. URL accessed February 10, 2007.
3. ^ BOROUGH PROFILE: Oldham, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, 2002. URL accessed February 10, 2007.
4. ^ [1]
5. ^ [2]
6. ^ [3]
7. ^ Maybe change is needed, Oldham Advertiser, February 14, 2007. URL accessed March 31, 2007.
8. ^ BOROUGH PROFILE: Oldham, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, 2002. URL accessed, February 10, 2007.
9. ^ The Historic Environment - Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas in Oldham, Oldham.gov.uk. URL accessed April 1, 2007.

[edit] External links

• Oldham Website operated by the local council.
• Oldham, the profile of the borough based upon the 2001 United Kingdom Census.

Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester

City of Manchester | City of Salford Metropolitan Borough of Bolton | Metropolitan Borough of Bury | Metropolitan Borough of Oldham | Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale | Metropolitan Borough of Stockport | Metropolitan Borough of Tameside | Metropolitan Borough of Trafford | Metropolitan Borough of Wigan

Districts of North West England
Allerdale | Barrow-in-Furness | Blackburn with Darwen | Blackpool | Bolton | Burnley | Bury | Carlisle | Chester | Chorley | Congleton | Copeland | Crewe and Nantwich | Eden | Ellesmere Port and Neston | Fylde | Halton | Hyndburn | Knowsley | Lancaster | Liverpool | Macclesfield | Manchester | Oldham | Pendle | Preston | Ribble Valley | Rochdale | Rossendale | St Helens | Salford | Sefton | South Lakeland | South Ribble | Stockport | Tameside | Trafford | Vale Royal | Warrington | West Lancashire | Wigan | Wirral | Wyre
Counties with multiple districts: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside

Coordinates: 53.54428° N 2.11918° W