Economy Officer Report – October 2024

Since my election in March 2024, I have a few updates:

Town Board Meeting: Fri 14 Jun 2024

Although I was unable to attend this meeting, this meeting got cancelled due to the
proximity to the general election.

During this meeting, a few topics were discussed, including:

The High Street Accelerator fund ‐ this is a UK Government initiative, in order to help 10 select struggling high streets, one of which was determined to be Oldham’s High Street. This included £ 50,000 of tied funding which was to be spent by March 2024, and more funding to come. In this section, it was also noted that there are new shops coming to the high street, including Yorkshire Street, such as a new fabric shop, an Afro-Carribean shop, a Belgian waffle shop, and an aesthetic skin clinic. Additionally, it was noted that a report was made, which compared Oldham to comparable town centres, and what our key demographics were. There was however a question raised during the meeting in respect to the demographics not considering anyone at or below the age of 25, which is a concern since many young people, such as college students (16‐18) may want part‐time jobs, and food to buy in the town centre, given that Oldham College and Oldham Sixth Form College are based in the town centre, alongside considerations about the night‐time economy. It was also noted that the council was considering implementing other features into the town centre, which do complement what Oldham Youth Council’s councillors stated they wanted, such as streeting lighting, street decorations, and retaining a heritage trail.

Communications & events ‐ in this section, one of the communication officers talked about the successes of some social media campaigns in and around Oldham, such as regarding pride, and the Tour of Britain Women 2024 (a cycling event with female cyclists, which crossed into the borough of Oldham).

Oldham Gift Card ‐ as an extension of the communication and events, the new Oldham Gift Card, which was launched two weeks prior to the meeting, was mentioned. The gift card can be given, and may only be used at retailers who have registered to accept it, as long as the shop is within the borough of Oldham. However, a question was made in the meeting if it could be used in a place that facilitates gambling, to which the response was. I made the question on whether this scheme could be introduced to sixth form and college students, as they are giving away a few gift cards for free, especially since students spend a lot of time and money in the town centre, and whether they can be introduced to the colleges as a gift, to which the council officer said it could, however Oldham College already bought a lot of gift cards before the Oldham Gift Card scheme was launched.

Relocating Tommyfield Market ‐ there is a plan to relocate Tommyfield market indoors. The council officer stated that this plan is currently going to schedule, and that it is anticipated that all stalls indoors will be allocated. As of the meeting, the council were still working with stall holders to allocate their stalls within the new market, and the construction of the actual stalls indoors.

Other town fund information ‐ there has been a positive story with Northern Roots shared within the meeting, stating that a GCSE student, who was claimed to have been written off by the system, got into Positive Steps, who referred him to Northern Roots and started volunteering, which convinced him to sit the needed GCSEs, and that he thrived with working with Northern Roots.

Other business in this section included discussions on the flexible workspace in the council offices in Spindles, called, “The Hive”, aimed towards businesses.

After the meeting, I emailed the council officer overseeing the Oldham Gift Card scheme
a few queries. Here were a few key points in the response:

The Oldham Gift Card Scheme is available to any business, for free, to register. This does include national chains, such as Primark, but this scheme will exclusively work only in the shops within the borough, i.e. you can use the gift card in the Primark in Oldham, but can not in the Primark in Market Street, Manchester.

There are Egyptian Rooms opening in the next few weeks, as of writing this, in Oldham Town Centre. They will work with Get Oldham Working in order to connect local people with employment opportunities.