Cllr Paul Martin has answered a cry for help from a Failsworth resident who has a CCTV camera pointing directly in to his bedroom! Cllr Martin explains "I visited the resident at his home to discuss a number of issues when he pointed out to me that he had a CCTV camera pointing directly at his front bedroom".

I asked the resident what he had done about it and he explained to me that he had complained on a number of occasions and had asked for its removal. He told me, that to date, he had been completely ignored by the authorities. The high definition camera, which is situated on a lamp post facing the residents house, was placed there before planning permission was given. It subsequently received retrospective permission.

Cllr Martin says "I will be taking this residents case right to the top of the Council. It is not right that someone has to live with this intrusion on their privacy and to add insult to injury, be totally ignored when they complain about it".

Failsworth Conservative Councillor Paul Martin got action for a Failsworth resident after a contractor covered a manhole at the rear of his house causing his garage to flood during the recent heavy rains. Cllr Martin said "I was contacted by a resident who had arranged to have tarmac scrapings dropped at the rear of his house. Unfortunately, whilst doing so, the contractor had covered a manhole cover. When we had heavy rains at the end of June, rather than run away down the manhole as had previously been the case, the resident's garage had flooded".

Cllr Martin contacted the council highways department on the residents behalf and they duly came back and uncovered the manhole for the resident. Cllr Martin went on "I am delighted for the resident concerned that I was able to get such a speedy resolution to his problem, however, whilst the situation is much better I will be continuing to press the highways department to get the levels much better on the site so ensuring that the any rainfall goes directly to the manhole as used to happen".

In finishing Cllr Martin added, 'The quick reaction of the highways department is also to be praised.'

Residents of Gail Close are furious that alley gating they were told they were getting was a 'mistake’. After a resident enquired as to the status of their alleygating scheme Cllr Ian Barker made enquiries to the Council only to be told that in June of last year, residents had been informed that it had been dropped due to insufficient resident support. The unhappy Gail Close resident, who received a letter in April of this year confirming the scheme, telephoned OMBC for answers only to be told that the letter he had recieved was in fact a 'mistake'.

Cllr Barker promised to look into this, and with the support of local residents, get the scheme back on track . He said, “The scheme had around 78% resident support. This isn’t deemed enough for the scheme to go ahead. Residents have also been told the scheme was dropped in June last year, when it clearly states on the detailed plans that they were put together in August, some two months later, it just doesn’t add up."

On the 24 July 2007, before their election, Failsworth Conservatives expressed their concern that the water tank on the Tesco site had been erected without planning permission. This was expressed by means of an article in our newsletter (issue 3 2007/2008)

As per his election promise to residents of Failsworth West, Councillor Ian Barker recently made an enquiry with the planning department regarding the huge water tank situated on the Ashton Road West side of the Tesco site at Failsworth. The tank is unsightly and is not in keeping with the area. Ian enquired whether the tank had been granted planning permission. It has now come to light that this is not the case.

On the 23rd June 2008, approx. 6 weeks later and a year after the original newsletter, OPP, who own the land that accommodates Tesco, have applied for retrospective planning permission for the water tank. In other words, as suspected the huge eyesore was erected without planning permission.

Cllr Ian Barker and residents are objecting against this plannign application, one furious resident said "We have been told before that it was always going to get retrospective plannign permission some day, this is really what tipped us over the edge and we then sought legal advice. We are just glad that someone is fighting our corner for us.

Cllr Ian Barker has vowed to back residents and in his role a councillor has requested this application goes to the planning committee, Ian says “We have followed this closely and as soon as the residents of Failsworth West elected me I made an enquiry regarding the tank. I am astounded at the outcome, that in fact it was erected without planning permission. I promised in my election campaign that I would look into this if elected and hopefully residents can now put their trust in local politicians once more.

Failsworth West Councillor Ian Barker added “This is a big issue for Failsworth, even before the decline in the housing market residents were concerned about the value of and saleability of their property because of this huge eyesore. Hopefully soon they will be taking it down and out of sight"

You can write a letter of objection to -

RE: Planning application number PA/055234/08 - Retrospective planning permission for the installation of sprinkler tank on land adjacent to Tesco, Ashton Road West, Failsworth.

Environmental Services Directorate,

Planning Services,

Civic Centre,

PO Box 30,

West Street,

Oldham,

OL1 1UQ.

Article by Cllr Ian Barker (01/0705)

The residents of Wyndale Drive will soon see the end of a sinking section of their road. After 12 months of frustration with OMBC a resident turned to Cllr Ian Barker and asked for help. Ian acted quickly on behalf of Wyndale Drive residents and within a week of the issue first being brought to the attention of the newly elected councillor, Oldham Metropolitan Highways Dapartment have excavated the affected area and are investigating the cause of the problem.

Ian is hopeful that the problem will be sorted out and the road repaired "I have to give the Highways department credit. Since my involvement they have acted very quickly to resolve the issue. What does concern me though is that this is not the first time that residents have reported feeling frustrated when trying to deal with the Council. There is a long standing problem here yet it has taken intervention from a councillor to get action."

Once the investigation is complete, repair work will be carried and the affected area will be resurfaced.