Labour North West

Welcome to Labour in the North West

Labour North West covers Cheshire, Greater Manchester,Lancashire, Merseyside and parts of Cumbria.

Announcement of the death of Cllr Roy Oldham

Announcement of the death of Cllr Roy Oldham

Councillor Samuel Roy Oldham, CBE, known as Roy, who has died aged 76, after losing his two-year battle with cancer, will be remembered by the public and peers alike as a man of the people and, after being at the helm of Tameside Council for 30 years, the longest serving council leader in the country.

His thirty consecutive years as the Executive Leader of a Metropolitan Borough Council stands as testimony to the drive and determination of a man who led the borough to the pinnacle of local government. Named as among the highest achieving of all councils nationwide by the Audit Commission. In 2007 his inspirational leadership was recognised through the Municipal Journal ‘Best Achieving Council’, while in 2008 the Audit Commission attributed the phenomenal success of the council to Roy’s "widely recognised visionary and inspirational leadership".

A quick look at his life’s journey will go some way to explaining what a remarkable and unique individual he was. One that will be sorely missed. He was born and remained throughout his life in Mottram, an area he was first elected to represent as a councillor in 1966; a post of unbroken service he maintained until the day he died.

After being educated in local schools he went on to a career spanning over 30 years in the UK nuclear engineering industry, qualifying as a chartered engineer and becoming a Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering in the process.

His political career started around the same time, joining the Labour Party in 1960. But even though he would go on to lead his local party for 30 years, this did not stop him continuing to collect over 50 subscriptions every month, door-to-door from rank and file members. An example of a grass roots politician who forever stayed loyal to the people he represented.

Cllr Oldham was a founder member of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, following the dissolution of the Greater Manchester County Council in 1986 and went on to chair Manchester International Airport’s board, which is owned by the 10 Greater Manchester authorities. He also chaired and led the Greater Manchester Pension Fund for 23 years making it into the most profitable public sector pension fund in the country valued at over £10bn.

The list of his achievements is endless in his tireless pursuit to improve the areas in Tameside most in need of local government support. Most recently, he was instrumental in securing over £200m to build 10 new high schools within the borough. He was passionate about improving the life chances of young people and even from his hospital bed he continued to fight to secure funding for schools.

He oversaw the first large scale voluntary transfer of council-owned homes (17,000 properties) in the country to a new social landlord, which has now delivered £250M of investment and record levels of tenant satisfaction. In 2009 he introduced the Tameside Works First scheme, aimed at supporting local businesses through the economic slump. This decade he has been personally instrumental in attracting £1bn of new investment to Tameside, with £1bn already committed over the next five years to improve prosperity. It is because of instances such as these that his approach to the recession has been praised by business leaders and won this year’s Local Government Association’s Local Innovation Award.

As well as working tirelessly as a politician, Roy also put his engineering skills to good use, finding the time to design a glass crushing plant which enabled the council to turn the glass it collected from its residents into sand for use on everything, from golf courses and football pitches to use in the building trade.

All-in-all under his leadership Tameside Council picked up over 50 national awards of innovation and leading good practice. The key to this success, endorsed by the Audit Commission, had been the strong political leadership he brought to the table.

Even his passion for local history brought benefits to the borough and its people. Everything from initiating an eight-volume History of Tameside and the development of the Setantii and Waterworks Museums, visitor attractions charting the borough’s history, to his personal involvement in the introduction of public artworks and statues chronicling its history which were all designed to bring the area’s rich history to public awareness.

As well as being dedicated to improving life for the residents of Tameside, he was passionate about improving life chances of people who were suffering through illness or war, as can be seen in his support of Macmillan nurses, the eradication of malaria in Kenya and the support he gave to refugees during the Kosovo conflict. After being moved by the suffering in a Kenyan Village of Kiagware highlighted in the programme in a BBC documentary ‘Fever Road’ Cllr Oldham pledged money to help combat malaria and provide much-needed medical aid. This was soon extended and has now resulted in the construction of a brand new clinic and maternity wing for the whole community which was opened in 2008 and named after his wife Cllr Margaret Oldham, who oversaw the project and died in December 2008.

This remarkable man, who leaves a son, John, was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours list in 1999 and was granted honorary Freeman of the Borough in 2005 in recognition of his eminent services to the borough of Tameside.

The full impact of his passing may not be felt for some time, but what is already clear is the simple fact that he was a politician and leader, unlike any other and someone the like of whom, we are unlikely to see and benefit from again.

Councillor Samuel Roy Oldham CBE, C-Eng. M.I.Mech.E
Politician and inspirational leader
Born 22-04-34, died 14-07-10