Roy Oldham

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Samuel Roy Oldham, CBE (born 27 April 1934) the son of John and Mary Oldham (nee Bailey) has been the leader of Tameside Council since 1980 which makes his tenure of office as council leader the longest in British history . He is a member of the Labour Party and is councillor for Longdendale.

In the 2000 New Years Honours List, Mr Oldham was presented with a CBE in recognition of his services to local government.^[1]

Contents 1 Career 2 Controversy 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career

Roy Oldham has previously been the Chair of Manchester Airport between 1997 and 1998.

Roy Oldham has been the main driving force for the Mottram-Tintwistle bypass (or Longdendale Bypass). In the summer of 2006, the North West Regional Assembly (NWRA) decided to fund the Metrolink extension instead of the bypass. Unhappy with this decision and the environmental opposition to his road scheme, Roy Oldham blurted out his true feelings for the environment. He said in a council meeting: "If it takes out a few hedgehogs or snails, that’s the way of the world.".^[2]

By way of contrast, in the 1980s, Oldham had been very much against the closure of the Woodhead Line which he felt could bring about the extension of the M67 motorway through the Longdendale Valley. His comments at the Public Inquiry are recorded in Simon Bain's book Railroaded!: Battle for Woodhead Pass:^[3]

“

On the final afternoon there was an unscheduled appearance by the Leader of Tameside Council, Roy Oldham. He said the GMC was looking at cutting its transport budget by £3.7 million because of government cuts, and the local rail services were an obvious target. But the whole of the Longdendale and west Manchester area naturally commuted west into the city, and without a good service the local road systems could not cope. Worse, the M67 constructed through Denton and Hyde 'led people to believe that it would be extended through Longdendale', ROY OLDHAM: We have a situation where a major rail artery is about to be removed for ever, with a road construction company having built a bypass that points at it. All that will happen is that it will smash through villages and curve its way towards Sheffield. What is the sense of constructing a motorway when a modern railway links two industrial centres 30 miles apart, and replacing that with something that will destroy the environment and cost huge amounts of capital? We have a procession of bumper-to-bumper vehicles coming over from Sheffield, but many are loads like coal, which should be on the rail line, and our roads are cut to pieces with them.

”

[edit] Controversy

In 2001 Mr. Roy Oldham received a 32% pay rise from Tameside Council. The increase was from £23,453.00 a year to £31,000, a rise of £7,547.^[4]

In 2006, he was the subject of local controversy after declaring that potholes in one local road would not be immediately repaired as they presented a temporary traffic calming measure.^[5]

On a similar subject to potholes being a traffic calming measure, Mr. Roy Oldham also made his own oppinions on the Longendale Bypass. In one council meeting he said "If it takes out a few hedgehogs or snails, that’s the way of the world." This came under heavy critical response from local people. ^[6]

Further to Cllr Roy Oldham's 32% pay rise, it has been recently reported that he now earns a £50,000 annual salary which again is above the rate of inflation and the average national UK wage.^[7]

Also in 2006, the £21,000 cost of his BMW 5 Series car was revealed by a local newspapers.^[8]

On the 21 February 2007, Cllr Roy Oldham outed two rival party councillors of not paying their council tax. He being a labour councillor and Karen Wright, Liberal Democrat for Audenshaw and Conservative councillor John Kelly of Ashton Hurst.^[9]

[edit] References

1. ^ "DBE, KBE, CBE Civil Order of the British Empire", BBC, December 31, 1999.
2. ^ "Roy Oldham's snail comment", May 24, 2006.
3. ^ Bain, Simon (1986). Railroaded!: Battle for Woodhead Pass. Faber & Faber, 168,169. ISBN 0-571-13909-4. 
4. ^ "£7.5k rise for council leader", Tameside Advertiser, March 27, 2001.
5. ^ "Potholes are traffic calming measure", Manchester Evening News, March 3, 2006.
6. ^ "Hedgehogs a prickly subject", Tameside Advertiser.
7. ^ "Council leader to pick up £50k a year", Tameside Advertiser.
8. ^ "Council defends lease of BMW", Tameside Advertiser.
9. ^ "Councillors in tax arrears", Tameside Advertiser.

[edit] External links

• Roy Oldham profile at Tameside Council
• Tameside Care Homes Crisis - News article on Tameside Care home redundancies headed by Cllr Roy Oldham.
• Unethical Pension Fund - An open letter from Roy Oldham about Tameside Council's management of the GMPF