Sean Fielding: Last News

Two Labour councillors have reportedly thrown their hat in the ring to replace Arooj Shah as Oldham's town hall leader. That's according to one Labour party source.

Death threats, 'conspiracy theories' and police escorts – an ousted ex-leader has revealed what it’s really like heading up Oldham council.

H&M is to close its Oldham town centre store, the retailer has announced.

Don't miss a thing by signing up to the MyOldham newsletter here

Don't miss a thing by signing up to the MyOldham newsletter here

For the latest Oldham news sign up to the MyOldham newsletter here

For the latest news from in and around Oldham sign up to the MyOldham newsletter here

Follow this link and select My Oldham News.

direct to your inboxA review into allegations of child sexual exploitation in Oldham is now expected to publish its findings in the ‘middle of 2021’, the region’s deputy mayor has confirmed.In a letter to Oldham council’s chief executive, Baroness Beverley Hughes said the findings of the independent review would not be published for months.She was writing in response to a motion raised at the November meeting of the full council, proposed by Conservative and Independent councillors John Hudson and Brian Hobin.The motion had raised concerns that interviews taking place as part of the review, which was commissioned by mayor Andy Burnham at the request of council leader Sean Fielding and the chair of the Oldham safeguarding partnership, ‘have

Council bosses have agreed to sell a former school site in Oldham to a developer, which could build up to 150 new homes on the land.The Kaskenmoor school in Hollinwood, which opened in the mid-1960s, was a mixed comprehensive which had capacity for up to 900 students.It was an amalgamation of Greenhill Grammar School and Hollinwood Secondary Modern School, and was called Kaskenmoor Comprehensive School.It closed in 2010, and part of the school site was identified as surplus following the completion of the New Bridge and Hollinwood Academy.Council leader Sean Fielding told a cabinet meeting: “It has been our ambition to see homes developed on the former Kaskenmoor school site down at Hollinwood Junction, which is part of a wider plan to

Oldham council bought the town’s Spindles Shopping Centre for £9.5m, it has been revealed.The town hall had announced the purchase of the Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre and the proposed relocation of Tommyfield Market into the complex last month.Council leader Sean Fielding then said they couldn’t reveal the cost as it was commercially sensitive, but described the purchase as an ‘absolute bargain’.However he made the figure public at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday night.“While we were told initially that we weren’t allowed to reveal the price for legal reasons, I’m delighted that we’ve now been given to confirm that, whilst it was bought by previous owners for over £40m, we managed to get the whole centre for £9.5m,” Coun

Councillors were presented with an update on the progress of an investigation into allegations of child sexual exploitation in Oldham during a heated town hall meeting.An independent review is currently underway into alleged child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the borough which concern ‘shisha bars, taxi companies and children’s homes’.Council leader Sean Fielding and Independent Failsworth East councillor Brian Hobin clashed over the issue at a virtual meeting of the full council on Wednesday night.Coun Fielding said that during the course of the meeting people had assembled outside his home while his partner was there alone and 'attempted to bully and intimidate and harass her with a megaphone from across the street'.Moving a motion

Oldham’s Spindles Shopping Centre has been bought by the council for ‘millions’ in a move which will see Tommyfield Market relocated and a new town centre park created.The town hall has announced the purchase as part of its £306m ‘Creating a Better Place’ strategy to regenerate the borough, which is being funded from capital expenditure.Due to ‘commercial sensitivity’ reasons, the council would not confirm how much it paid for the shopping centre complex.However council leader Sean Fielding told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was an ‘absolute bargain’.“It’s a one off purchase today, but in terms of the amount of money it will save the council on an ongoing basis it will run into the tens of millions of pounds, far in excess of

Local lockdown measures are suppressing an explosion of new cases of coronavirus - but are not enough on their own to bring down climbing infection rates, Oldham’s council leader has said.Councillor Sean Fielding believes that the return to schools and workplaces, combined with the effect of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme is behind the latest dramatic spike in Greater Manchester.The council leader also criticised the ‘contradictory messages’ from the government which meant people were becoming ‘lethargic’ and more likely to see announcements of measures as ‘white noise’, he said.Aside from Leicester, Oldham was the first borough in England to be put under stricter restrictions to prevent rising Covid-19 cases at the start of August.Those

the borough was placed under tighter lockdown restrictions after its coronavirus infection rate spiked to become the worst in England.It means separate households are no longer allowed to meet outdoors alongside the measures which bans them from meeting in a property or private garden, that still apply to the rest of Greater Manchester.Here are all the new restrictions in place. The council has previously posted video messages on social media from the actor James Buckley, who played Jay in The Inbetweeners, as well as Game of Thrones star James Cosmo and Pakistani cricket captain Azhar Ali.Cllr Sean Fielding, leader of the council, said that the novel idea was aimed at reaching different areas of the community.On BBC Breakfast this morning

Oldham could be the next town forced back into lockdown after it recorded the country’s third-highest infection rate.

Council chiefs in Oldham fear the town will be forced into a Leicester-style Covid-19 lockdown later this week.

hereIt comes three days after Oldham council announced that restrictions on socialising and visiting other people’s homes were being reintroduced following a spike of 119 new cases in the borough.Reacting to the latest news, leader Sean Fielding said he was supportive of the measures being brought back by government but criticised the way they were communicated.“There is real concern about the way that it was announced, both the timing and lack of clarity,” he added.“The amount of confusion and conflicting messages that were circulating on social media, it was really worrying.“I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people out there who aren’t even aware that this has happened.

Moving people who test positive for coronavirus from large households to self-isolate elsewhere is ‘not on the table’, Oldham’s council leader has said.Despite a hundred plus spike in cases being mainly attributed to ‘household transmission’, councillor Sean Fielding said leaders were not looking at measures to move residents who test positive into separate dwellings away from family members.He was responding to a question from Nick Robinson, on Radio Four's Today show, who asked whether they were considering a scheme – similar to one introduced in China – to take people out of ‘crowded homes’ to quarantine at a different location.Coun Fielding said he didn’t believe it would be practical.“It’s certainly not something we’re discussing or

A doctor has warned that people should not be using bleach to protect themselves from coronavirus after Donald Trump suggested disinfectant could be injected to kill the virus.

This is the disgraceful mess that has been piled high by fly tippers on a secluded road.