Letter to the editor from Liberal Democrat Councillors over Saddleworth School
Liberal Democrats welcome the Education Funding Agency’s (EFA) U-Turn in belatedly agreeing to specify up to date costs for constructing a new Saddleworth Secondary School at the Diggle sites and at the current school in Uppermill. We have repeatedly pressed both Oldham Council and the EFA to do this but they have hitherto refused.
Saddleworth’s Liberal Democrats publicly pledge to accept whichever location comes out on top in the EFA’s new appraisal to secure the Government’s £17million funding for a new school for Saddleworth for 1500 pupils.
The same public pledge is needed now from Mike Buckley, Nikki Kirkham and the Saddleworth Independent councillors, Conservatives, Labour and UKIP and from the Diggle Community Association. Saddleworth cannot risk missing out on a new school.
Yours sincerely,
Liberal Democrat Councillors Garth Harkness and Derek Heffernan (Saddleworth North), John McCann (Saddleworth South) & Val Sedgwick (Saddleworth West & Lees)
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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What an absolute crock of rubbish, EVERY Lib Dem member on Saddleworth Parish Council voted against pursuing OMBC to make the costings of a rebuild on the Uppermill site pubic, and giving the residents of Saddleworth the backing they were asking for.
This is NOT a U-Turn the EFA had never finalised a decision on the site to be used, this was something the majority of Saddleworth Parish Council and OMBC tired to make everyone believe!
This review is down to the hard work of SDAG and the residents of Saddleworth, who want the a new school on the existing site and everything to be done above board.
How can anyone of any persuasion blindly accept a decision. It needs careful scrutiny, something local politicians seem unable to grasp. Who ia to say the EFA wont make the same mistake again. Or that the EFA won’t rey and save face and skew to Diggle again. Poor decision to accept, I urge Cllrs Buckley and Kirkham to do such thing.
I wonder what Debbie Abrahams response will be following her previous capitulation?
“Whilst the Diggle site is not ideal, especially at the front and so close to Huddersfield Road, I do believe that it is probably the least worst option, given the restrictions of the allowed budget and Government timetable.”
As reported in Saddleworth News www.saddleworthnews.com/?p=17413
Let’s just remember there are people in favour of a new build in Diggle as well as those against . As long as Saddleworth gets a new school is my concern and sooner as opposed to later . All this debating and arguing has got to be decided and soon ! for the sake of the future students for Saddleworth School and it’s teachers !
Sorry guys it just won’t wash.
The Saddleworth Independents have been the only Councillors pressing for a proper evaluation of the Diggle and Uppermill sites. It is entirely as a result of our campaign, and that of SDAG, that this is now taking place. The major political parties can claim no credit for this. They have done nothing despite their claims. We are delighted to now hear, despite many statements from the Lib Dems to the contrary, that no decision has yet been made by the EFA as to the location of the school and that a detailed feasibility study of all options will now take place (it hadn’t to date).
Unlike the Lib Dems we will not sit back and wait to see what will be decided. We will be proactively stressing the advantages of the Uppermill site, the disadvantages of the Diggle site and reminding the EFA that the people of Saddleworth want the new school built in Uppermill not Diggle.
My friends you will have to do better than this rather grudging volte face if you are to redeem the Lib Dems tarnished reputation in Saddleworth.
Mike Buckley
100% Behind Mike Buckley and SDAG, OMBC… (section removed by editor for legal reasons)…. profiteering at the expense of Saddleworth residents and surrounding countryside. Uppermill is a central location for all villages, there will be little or no impact of building on the existing site as the school has always been there, Lib Dems on the back foot because of public pressure, and want to come out of this with some credibility. I know a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to try and get the school rebuilt on the existing site, keep up the fight as OMBC dont give a damn!
Ahem, excuse me, is this coming from the same Liberal Democratic Councillors including Brian Lord who in February said….
“I would like to outline where the situation regarding the new school is at.
“It is expected that in the next few days OMBC will sign a section 151 and section 77 agreement with the EFA. This means that they will underwrite any costs incurred by the EFA if the new school is not built in Diggle and that they will purchase the land.
“It may well be that this has already been done by the time you hear this. This means that there is absolutely no chance of the school being built in Uppermill. There is no longer any point arguing the merits of either site. The EFA, who are the ones offering the money, have said very clearly that they will not pay for a school in Uppermill.”
– See more at: www.saddleworthnews.com/?p=17592#sthash.Z5blaOjU.dpuf
Typical Lib Dem fence-sitting. They’ve been totally discredited and having been thrashed at the polls are now trying to appear impartial and reasonable, and appeal to both sides of the argument! Debbie Abrahams is another perfect example of the same syndrome. We want a party that will support SDAG not a bunch of opportunists, and one that will still object to a school in Diggle even if EFA decides that is their preferred option. The success of the Independents in Saddleworth is proof that folks are thoroughly p’eed off with the official parties and their abject failure to listen to popular opinion.
What an unbelievable comment from the lib dem councillors! The independents have been campaigning with the SDAG for months about the best place for the siting of where the new saddleworth school should be and it is not in diggle. Please do not try and insult the intelligence of Saddleworth people by doing a massive u turn now and pretending you are on there side. Is there an election next year by any chance?
The LDs are now making fools of themselves, they need to be (up front)for or against the school at Diggle or Uppermill, rather than have someone else make the decision for them. This is not a time for fence-sitting.
Re the amount of money involved, £17m is barely adequate to build the school that Saddleworth requires and our children deserve. Remember North Chadderton and Waterhead both had budgets £24m+.
Therefore, hopefully the EFA will make the right decision (for the school and Saddleworth) and decide the school can be rebuilt on its current site, but this should be backed up by OMBC lobbying for additional central govt funding and also pledging the money they were to waste on infrastructure costs (remember Cllr Amanda Chadderton said there was a 7 figure sum available for road changes which will do for starters)towards the school build and fittings.
I actually can’t believe the duplicity involved here. I think a fair summary would be, Lib Dems fail to listen to majority of concerned residents and fail to represent them adequately. They then get a good drubbing in the election and fresh from licking their wounds, try to convince an intelligent electorate that they are stupid. Wind your necks in now. The job has been done for you now, you are not fooling anyone, just embarrassing yourselves further, if that’s possible.
From this site on 19/1/2014;
Lib Dem statement regarding Saddleworth School News has been sent the following statement from the Lib Dem group: Oldham Council have said that a new school in Saddleworth would have to be in Diggle. Additional proposals for use of the existing site, along with the previous proposals of around 15 other alternative have all been rejected. – See more at: www.saddleworthnews.com/?p=17387#sthash.1ZJpGAgD.dpuf
How anyone can vote for the Lib Dems again after their conduct in the new school affair? Flip-flop all over the place without a clue. At least the Independents have shown bottle and agreed to stand up and be counted. That’s why Alan Roughly lost his seat.
The Lib Dems deserve to be run out of Saddleworth
Lets not forget that it was only a few months ago that a full meeting of Oldham Metropolitan Council voted 56 – 0 in support of a resolution that said Uppermill was an unsuitable site for the new school. That 56 included all the Lib Dem cllrs that were there that night. Now the Lib Dems have changed their minds to court popularity. Who would have thought it.
All you are being asked Mike is to pledge you will support the decision of the EFA whatever that is, Uppermill or Diggle. Saddleworth students need a new school wherever it is built.
All this stalling is putting the school at risk, is this what the action group and Cllrs Buckley and Kirkham want ?
Patrick,
Exactly. If the EFA do reject Uppermill after a detailed feasibility study, will Mike Buckley, Kirkham and Lucas support the decision and let it be built? Or will they fight the decision and risk Saddleworth losing the funding?
Maybe Cllr Buckley could clarify if he’ll support the EFA’s final decision, which ever way it goes?
Emma the silence from Independant councillors Bucley and Kirkham sys it all, they don’t care about educating the young people who live in Saddleworth,they are only concerned with a field, which even if they manage to prevent the school being built, will be developed anyway.
Patrick/Emma…..why are you so hell bent on accepting the worst deal for Saddleworth children? Why don’t you want them to have the school they deserve, instead of the scrapings off somebodies shoe? Why are you willing to risk the future of generations of children in a two-bit school which won’t stand the test of time? It’s already been made clear that both sites haven’t been evaluated properly, surely anyone in their right mind would want this? The scaremongering has to stop now, it’s gone beyond a joke. Hidden agendas at play here I think.
If Cllrs Buckley, Knotts and Kirkham are “Independent” perhaps they would consider all options – including building the school in Diggle. I live in Diggle and support the development as the bottom line is – Saddleworth needs a new school. By working with OMBC they can look at the areas that are worrying the locals:
1) Access to Huddersfield Road at the current bottleneck
2) Where the residents can park away from the road, to take away that bottleneck
3) Why the school needs to be built on the floodplain and overlooking the road, and not on the site of the former loom works? (Too expensive to clear, apparently)
4) Will OMBC confirm plans for new houses in Diggle once the status of the land changes following the school being built? How many new houses on the old school site, and will these be aspirational houses or affordable to those in the area?
5) Will the land swap deal generate extra income for the school to allow the new school to be built at the rear and not facing onto the main road?
The OMBC leader is clearly flavour of the month at the moment following awards, promotions and his work on the Oldham section of the Metrolink. Lets hope hubris doesn’t get the better of him on this.
If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got. Time for change.
Will the councillors attempting to destroy our children’s education give as much focus to HS3 when it steams straight through their precious field in Diggle at 200mph ??
Helen,
I’m not “hell bent” in accepting a bad deal for our children, I live in Diggle and I’m open-minded about where the school goes. Sometimes my fellow Digglers can get carried away with over-romanticising what is, essentially, a brown-field site which will be built on anyway.
All I want to know is whether SDAG will support the EFA if its feasibility study concludes that Uppermill is not an option? It’s not a difficult question and I’m disappointed that Mike Buckley, after being so vocal elsewhere, seems strangely silent on this matter.
If the EFA reject Uppermill then SDAG have a political hot potato. Will they accept the EFA and work with OBMC on delivering the school in Diggle (as Keith McZone rationally explains above) or will they throw their toys out the pram and challenge planning until Saddleworth has no secondary school.
Now that’s a legacy nobody wants. Not even Mike Buckley.
It’s a disgrace that the so called Independent Saddleworth Parish Councillors and SDAG won’t do the right thing and publicly committ to supporting the EFA decision as to where the proposed new school is built.
Sadly their selfish approach will put the education of Saddleworth students at serious risk, there will be many other schemes throughout the country that are ready to go when the governments patience runs out.
Sadldleworth students will then be bused round the town for their education, but that will be OK because they can then start yet another Action Group against that decision.
Patrick,
You’re right. The dilemma SDAG have is that they’re a single-policy protest group with 10% population support (2,250) and VERY little room for manoeuvre.
The EFA have given SDAG what they asked for with a review into Uppermill costings, but if the EFA rules out Uppermill and favours Diggle, then SDAG will be forced to make a significant policy decision. Will they stick on their path ensuring Saddleworth looses its secondary school, or will they accept defeat gracefully for the good of Saddleworth’s parents and children?
I’m sure the 90% of Saddleworthians who haven’t signed SDAG’s campaign will hope it’s the latter.