Talk:Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

Mayor
I have added a section on the office of Mayor. Any feedback would be appreciated.

user:wc674 10:56 April 2009 —Preceding undated comment added 09:57, 1 April 2009 (UTC).

Council
I have just removed the following text from the article:


 * Oldham Council have consistently achieved poor ratings when assessed by the Independent Auditor of councils. Oldham Council have the highest council tax rates of any of the surrounding councils in addition to the worst assessments from the independent auditor.

I removed it for two reasons:
 * 1) it was in the wrong place in the article
 * 2) it's quite a strong assertion, and as such should really have a source cited - see WP:V

if anyone can find documentary evidence to back these claims up feel free to reincorporate the relevant material, quoting your source in-line. Aquilina 14:34, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

An editor has just added
 * Oldham Metropolitan Borough also sets the second highest council tax in Greater Manchester.

- has anyone got a source for this? I couldn't find one at a quick check, but something like this should be easy to verify. If no source is found by the end of the week, it would have to be struck out per WP:CITE and WP:V. Shouldn't come to that though. Aquilina 02:24, 29 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Done now. Thanks very much! Aquilina 01:02, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

It was very slack of me not to provide the source yesterday, especially considering that a statement along similar lines had already been removed for being unsubstantiated.

81.131.118.128 01:12, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Newham
Is there another source for Newham as a serious alternative name? It seems unlikely as the London Borough of Newham had been created in 1965. MRSC 10:53, 15 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Believe it or not, it appears to be correct. I remember reading this in one of the more recent histories of the town - perhaps the one published for the 150th anniversary.  I don't have a copy to hand though for a full citation.  I'd let it stand with its current citation for now, hopefully someone reading this message will find the other reference.


 * I'd imagine the presence of the London Newham was a factor which put people off the name (as well as the general corniness of the idea!) Aquilina 11:13, 15 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I'd be very disinclined to take that website as a serious source, considering how much of what I've checked there at other sources has turned out to be false. Morwen - Talk 16:32, 15 September 2006 (UTC)


 * That seems a good solution, I have my reservations about that site too. Seeing the citation needed tag will keep reminding me to look it up again too! (I suspect the book is "Oldham Brave Oldham" ...) Aquilina 17:27, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Education section
Is the list of schools really necessary? There may be a case for keeping the table of secondary schools, but the 100+ primary schools just seem to be cluttering the article up. Nev1 (talk) 03:02, 21 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd have to agree with you here. Looks like it is, or will be, superceded by List of schools in Greater Manchester anyway. -- Jza84 · (talk) 03:04, 21 December 2007 (UTC)


 * In that case, would you object if I removed them? After checking the list against List of schools in Greater Manchester of course. Nev1 (talk) 11:59, 26 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Not at all. Go for it! -- Jza84 · (talk) 12:19, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
 * There all there, should I copy accross the web addresses? Nev1 (talk) 12:43, 26 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, it's your call, but looking at the GM list, it seems there would be no need for now. Certainly that article needs some TLC, but perhaps after List of churches in Greater Manchester and Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester eh? -- Jza84 · (talk) 12:48, 26 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I'll leave them out then, they shouldn't be too hard to get hold of if necessary, touch wood. Sounds like the project needs a 'To Do' list. Nev1 (talk) 12:51, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Bot report : Found duplicate references !
In the last revision I edited, I found duplicate named references, i.e. references sharing the same name, but not having the same content. Please check them, as I am not able to fix them automatically :) DumZiBoT (talk) 14:46, 9 August 2008 (UTC)
 * "Oldham Legion" :

New Moston
Re this edit: I thought New Moston was in Manchester, not Oldham? Mr Stephen (talk) 23:31, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Source
I've found a useful resource here. --Jza84 | Talk  12:25, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Proposed changes to a number of sections
As you'll notice from my cunning username Oldhamcouncil (talk) 14:49, 3 September 2014 (UTC) and for absolute transparency, i'm working with Oldham Council and with your help i'd like to suggest some changes are made to this page. Please could you let me know your thoughts before any changes are made...

Proposed changes

Introduction

Add: Oldham benefits from a high-quality rural and semi-rural environment, including a quarter of the borough lying within the Peak District National Park. It has a mixture of high-density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural, and rural locations, and is in a pivotal position between the cities of Manchester and Leeds as ‘Gateway to the Pennines’.

Add a sentence after this that says:

However, plans are now in place to restore and transform the Grade II-listed Old Town Hall into a cinema an entertainment complex in Oldham town centre.

Add: A 360-degree virtual tour of the building was put online before restoration work began as part of a wider project to bring some of Oldham’s civic buildings to life on Google Streetview.

The borough’s Green Flag award-winning Alexandra Park was also officially recognised for its historic importance in 2013 when English heritage boosted its status on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England from Grade II to Grade II*. Only 30 parks and gardens in the North West carry this accolade.

Change to Mayor Delete - Cllr J Hudson (2012-3) Add - Cllr Fida Hussain (2014-5)

Council Section

Add

In 2008 a critical Audit Commission inspection found that Oldham Council’s rate of improvement was ‘adequate’ and gave it a two-star rating. It said the rate of improvement had increased but had been “inconsistent”.

Add

In December 2012, Oldham was named ‘Most Improved Council’ at the Local Government Chronicle awards.

In December 2013 a team of six experienced politicians and officers from the Local Government Association carried out another independent ‘peer review’ of Oldham Council.

Their report said: “There has been a remarkable transformation in Oldham in recent years, both in terms of the place and in having established an ambitious and effective council. The authority can be proud of what has been achieved.”

Add In February 2014 Council Leader Jim McMahon was named ‘Council Leader of the Year’ by the LGiU thinktank who said his “strong leadership has helped lead to a dramatic improvement in service delivery and correlating significant improvement in resident satisfaction rates.” Demography

Add

As of the 2011 UK census, the borough of Oldham had a population of 224,897.

Add

Of the 89,703 households in Oldham, 56.6% of those aged 16 and over either live as a couple, are married, in a civil partnership or co-habiting, in line with the national average. A relatively high proportion of 9.3% of people are separated or divorced compared with England (8.6%) but in line with Greater Manchester (9.2%). The population density is higher in Oldham (15.8 people per hectare) than in England (4.1) although it is lower than that for Greater Manchester (21).

Females continue to make up over half (51%) of Oldham’s population, which is comparable to Greater Manchester, North West and national figures (50.6%, 50.9%, 50.8% respectively).

Oldham has a younger age structure than England, with under 16s making up 22.4% of the population in Oldham compared with 18.9% nationally.

People aged 75 and over make up 6.5% of Oldham’s population compared with 7.8% of England’s population.

Despite improvements in school and college outcomes, the proportion of residents with degree-level qualifications (18.6%) has fallen further behind national rates (27.4%). The proportion of residents with no qualifications has dropped and the gap between Oldham and England has narrowed to 29.6% with no qualifications in 2011 compared to 37.7% ten years earlier.

Ethnic Minority (non-white) population share increased from 13.9% (2001) to 22.5% (2011), a significantly greater change than nationally.

Oldham has relatively large Pakistani (10.1%) and Bangladeshi (7.3%) populations, but other groups are proportionately smaller than nationally.

The majority of residents are Christian (59.7%), markedly lower than in 2001 (72.6%). In 2011, 17.7% of residents were Muslim, and 16.1% had No Religion

Education

Delete unfinished sentence: “Schools in the borough of Oldham include:”

Delete: “There are around 161 schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham”.

Add: There are a total of 107 schools in Oldham.

This includes 86 primary schools,

15 secondary schools, five special schools and one independent grammar school.

Add:

In June 2014 the Oldham Education and Skills Commission was launched, chaired by former Education Secretary Estelle Morris. This 12-month inquiry is to review Oldham’s classrooms from 0 to 19 years and aims at raising standards and aspirations so that every child can achieve their full potential. It will report findings in June 2015.

and

Transport

Add

The Metrolink extension, which was completed in 2014, was seen as crucial to regeneration plans for Oldham town centre and to change the nature of what it offers to residents, investors, and visitors.

Then add

It offers good connectivity to Manchester city centre and beyond. Trams run directly to Manchester Victoria in under 30 minutes and onwards to national networks from Greenfield station in Saddleworth.

Add

Oldham bus station provides a transport hub at the heart of the town centre. Combined with a network of bus corridors the services include express bus services every town minutes into Manchester city centre.

The Metrolink network will eventually extend on to Manchester Airport which has direct flights to more than 200 destinations and is also only a 20-minute drive from Oldham.

Oldhamcouncil (talk) 14:49, 3 September 2014 (UTC) Add:

For complete transparency / conflict of interest: I work for Oldham Council.

I have changed my username from 'OldhamCouncil' as per Wikipedia's username policy and I am interested only in making factual changes which the community agree with. You can see the full story on my Talk Page. Gwoo84 (talk) 08:47, 9 October 2014 (UTC)

Comments
Look forward to hearing from you and any thoughts you might have about the wording changes.-- CaroleHenson (talk) 20:37, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
 * 1) Introduction requests
 * 2) Wouldn't it make sense to put the geographical information in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham section, which is nice to have as one of the first sections for orientation. For a more encyclopedic tone, what do you think about: "Part of Oldham is rural and semi-rural, with a quarter of the borough lying within the Peak District National Park. It also has high-density urban areas and suburbs and is a ‘Gateway to the Pennines’, located between the cities of Manchester and Leeds." Do you have a source for this information? - this was already ✅ - but I put the edited language in Geography, which I moved to the top
 * 3) I wonder if it would be good to put the following in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham section. Suggested wording based upon the source: It was reported in March 2014 that within the year the Grade II-listed Old Town Hall would be transformed into an entertainment complex with a cinema and restaurants in Oldham town centre. ✅
 * 4) Do you have a source for: "A 360-degree virtual tour of the building was put online before restoration work began as part of a wider project to bring some of Oldham’s civic buildings to life on Google Streetview." - this was already ✅, I found a source and added it
 * 5) For Alexandra Park, I made some tweaks to better paraphrase / avoid a copyright issue: "Alexandra Park status on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England was upgraded in 2013 from Grade II to Grade II* due to the large number of listed statues and buildings in the park. It is one of only 30 parks and gardens to receive the award in the North West and the only open space in Oldham to receive the distinction. Alexandra Park has also been a Green Flag Award winner."✅
 * 6) Change to Mayor - Do you have a source for: Delete - Cllr J Hudson (2012-3) and Add - Cllr Fida Hussain (2014-5)? - this was already ✅
 * 7) Council section - All of these items were already ✅. No need for a change.
 * 8) Demography - ✅ - There's table that might be nice to update, though.
 * 9) Education - this was already ✅
 * 10) Transport - this was already ✅


 * I see now that a lot of the edits were already done, and so I'm closing the request. I made some edits, filled in the references using http://tools.wmflabs.org/refill/, and thinned out the intro - there was a lot of detail in the intro better suited to the body of the article. Let me kknow if there are any comments or questions.-- CaroleHenson (talk) 21:23, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081119040620/http://www.oldham.gov.uk//living/births_marriages_and_deaths.htm to http://www.oldham.gov.uk/

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