Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

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For the main settlement, see Oldham.

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
Image:Ombc logo.gif

Geography
Status:	Metropolitan borough
Region:	North West England
Metropolitan county:	Greater Manchester
Area: - Total	Ranked 213th 142.36 km²
Admin. HQ:	Oldham
ONS code:	00BP
Demographics
Population: - Total (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 56th 219,200 1,540 / km²
Ethnicity:	86.1% White 11.9% S.Asian
Politics
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council http://www.oldham.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:	Labour
MPs:	Michael Meacher, Phil Woolas
Coverage
Image:OldhamBoroughsNumbered.png Oldham Lees Failsworth Chadderton Royton Shaw and Crompton Saddleworth

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 which includes the towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Lees, Royton, and Shaw and Crompton. The borough also covers the Saddleworth area. The seven areas which together make the borough, are the basis for the civic logo, which has seven distinct squares.

1 Creation
2 Neighbouring local government districts
3 Demographics
4 Parliamentary representation
5 Local administration
6 Politics
7 Coat of Arms
8 Schools and colleges

[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 local government districts

The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale lies to the west, the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees to the east, and the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside to the south. The city of Manchester lies directly to the south west.

[edit] Demographics

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] 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 former status (prior to 1974)

Saddleworth (Saddleworth Urban District)
Shaw and Crompton (Crompton Urban District)

[edit] Unparished areas

Showing former status (prior to 1974)

Chadderton (Chadderton Urban District)
Failsworth (Failsworth Urban District)
Lees (Lees Urban District)
Oldham (County Borough of Oldham)
Royton (Royton Urban District)

[edit] Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is divided into twenty wards each which elects three councillors who generally sit for a four year term. These democratically elected councillors together form the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, a body with direct local administrative responsibilities. The twenty wards are:

See maps illustrating warding of Oldham

[edit] Politics

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council has been known to be criticized, both by locals and by official commissions. In 2005, it was categorized as "weak" but "improving well" by the independent Audit Commission [1]. It was awarded only two stars, placing it within the bottom third of councils in the country according to perceived performance [2].

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 [3].

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%.

[edit] Coat of Arms

The Coat of arms is 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] Schools and colleges

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

Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester

Districts of North West England	Image:Flag of England.svg
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