‘I’ve stopped telling people where I live and work’

Oldham keeps hitting national headlines. Outside the borough, the name has in many corners become synonymous with the heated debates on inquiries into historic child sexual exploitation.

The issue is at the centre of an increasingly ‘toxic’ and ‘confrontational’ politics in Oldham Council.

But the issue seems to have far outgrown the confines of the local authority’s council chambers – from right wing protestors congregating outside the Civic Centre to the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, weighing in on debates online that are fraught with misinformation.

Yet where does that leave the residents of Oldham, and has their opinion of the council changed since the scandal has made waves in the media?
“I’ve stopped telling people where I live or work,” Shanice, 27, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service in a parking lot off Oldham Road.

Shanice works with homeless people in Oldham and comes from Rochdale, another borough affected by the horrific activities of a grooming gang in the 2000s. “I just say I’m from Manchester. Because I know what everyone thinks of.”

She went on: “I think a lot of things could have been avoided if they had cracked down on [the grooming gangs] sooner and put them into prison. That could have been tackled a long time ago.

“Of course, [the people in Oldham and Rochdale] aren’t all bad – I live there, I come here. And I don’t think the media helps. I think if everyone actually worked together and communicated on the issues and spoke to local people, a lot of problems could be solved.”

Shanice believes the council and authorities could do better in general – especially in areas such as anti-social behaviour and crime. But she also thinks there is a UK-wide problem with how people treat each other.

“People seem to think they’re in a film or something,” she said. “Instead of talking things out, they’ll pull a knife on each other. How can you stop that?”

Just down the road in Failsworth, two neighbours walking a dog together agreed that the recent spotlight had done no favours to the borough’s reputation.

“It will have a wider impact on the perception. It probably goes further than we realise,” the 39-year-old woman said. Both residents wished not to be named.

Her 75-year-old neighbour admitted he had stronger opinions on the subject: “It’s happened. Everybody knows it’s happened – especially the young girls it’s happened to. And it needs to be sorted out.

“It should have been cleared up years ago, that rumour, that stigma. But they couldn’t because it was always thrown out of the chambers. I’ve seen videos where it just seems like they shut the chambers down when people started asking questions about this kind of thing.”

Oldham has had several explosive meetings about the CSE issue over the past six years. Conservative and independent groups repeatedly called for a government-led inquiry while Labour members defended a GMCA-led review that found ‘significant failings’ in the way the Local Authority and Police dealt with victims and whistleblowers.

As well as tense exchanges between councillors, a number of meetings had to be adjourned after protestors repeatedly heckled and hurled insults at members.

One of the neighbours said she thought it was ‘a lot of delicate stories intertwined’ and that historic racial tension in Oldham had made it ‘difficult to approach the subject without worrying about treading on toes’.

But both neighbours agreed that while the CSE inquiry is an important conversation, it was not the main issue affecting most residents in the borough.

“I’ve had good experiences with the council on specific things. But it’s a very deprived area. You’ll see things like fly-tipping, pot-holes, general things which make living here not very nice,” the 39-year-old, who hails from Cheshire but has lived in Failsworth for five years, said. “A lot of it is down to the council. But also – how does the council get a grip of it, when they’ve got no money?”

“Not enough is being done for the local area,” the older neighbour agreed. “My council tax is my second-biggest bill. And you can’t see what’s happening for it.

“I get these leaflets through the door about all the things they’ve apparently done – these bl**dy bins they’ve installed in the town centre. And you think: I just stood in some dogsh*t and picked some bottles off the street to put in the bin and all the back alleys are full of sh*t. That’s the reality.”
It was also the reality for Joyce, 67, who also thought the major issues for the council were fly-tipping and the decline of the high street.

“It’s like everywhere. It’s just a bad state now. It’s horrendous,” she said. Like the two neighbours in Failsworth, she noted that this wasn’t down to the council alone – but also to how residents treat the local area. “There isn’t any pride in the place anymore,” she said.

Often, residents had heard of the CSE issue and felt it was something that needed to be dealt with – but felt they couldn’t express much of an opinion on it as it didn’t affect them personally.

“I’ve heard about the grooming gang stuff but I don’t know much about it,” says Werneth resident Ubaid Khan, 49.

“I think it’s right that they’re inquiring about it. I don’t want any criminal to get away just because they are Pakistani. I’m Pakistani myself by the way.”
For Ubaid, the issue affecting him most was the housing shortage. “I’m really struggling with rent,” he said. “And when you look to the council, they don’t have any way to support you.”

He’s dubious of the council’s plans to build more affordable housing in the town centre. “Will it really be affordable though? I don’t think it will be for me.”

Other interviewees listed lack of job opportunities, crime and deprivation levels as major issues that needed to be addressed by the council.

Yet most residents the LDRS spoke to admitted they ‘didn’t really engage with local politics’ and weren’t aware of the conflicts in the chambers.

“I don’t really care about the council as long as they don’t f*ck with me,” Josef, 22, said as he was walking down Oldham high street with his partner, Serena, 23. The couple moved to Derker just over a year ago and said they didn’t know, nor care, who their local councillors were and what they did.
Josef said: “So long as they’re collecting our bins, I don’t care about anything else.”

Another youngster told the LDRS in passing: “I don’t think I’ve seen anything in the news about Oldham Council, so they’re probably fine, right? I don’t really have an opinion.”

And Oldham mum Gbemi, 39, was waiting to pick up her two kids from school at Oldham’s central bus stop. She’s lived in Oldham for seven years – first in Sholver, then Shaw.
“I don’t know much about the council but I guess they do a good job?” she said, bemused. “I’ve been living here for six to seven years and I can’t think of any complaints.
“I love it here because it’s really peaceful where I live.”

Yet a number of people the LDRS spoke to had much stronger views of the council.

A Chadderton resident said: “I’ve refused to pay my council tax bills since 2022. They aren’t doing their jobs. I even sent them a letter detailing why. They’re very corrupt and don’t deal with the important issues.

“All the pubs and shops are gone. The town has gone completely downhill.”
“I think we have to dismantle the whole thing. Remove all the current councillors and bring in a fresh slate of normal residents.”

Yet often these views were accompanied by extreme feelings of political disenfranchisement and misinformation, with the above resident later sharing that she hadn’t trusted any politicians ‘since the pandemic’ – a conspiracy theory about the Covid-19 pandemic – and misinformation about 5G towers.

Another elderly couple in Oldham town centre felt that it had failed victims and survivors and let the town fall into decline.
“They want to carry out another inquiry,” the 83-year-old said. “But we did one years ago and they haven’t acted on the results. This one will take another 15 years, and then nothing will happen again.”

A number of residents also expressed extremist views about immigration or repeated claims about a ‘council cover up’ regarding the CSE issue. No evidence has been presented that supports these claim, which were investigated as part of the GMCA-led review published in 2022.

Responding to some of the varied views gathered by the LDRS, Oldham Council leader Arooj Shah said: “We always welcome views from residents about the borough and the council, and actively seek to gather feedback so that we can constantly improve. I’d like to thank those people who took the time to stop and talk to the LDRS because the views of any Oldhamer is really important to me.

“Great things are happening in Oldham and we would ask those residents who are unhappy with our services to feed back to us directly so we can alleviate their concerns, but also to take a look at some of the brilliant work being done by the dedicated public servants who work around the clock to make Oldham the best place it can possibly be.

“It’s concerning to read that some people believe the disinformation that is often put out about Oldham on social media. In a world where it is harder and harder for the truth to find its voice, we would urge Oldhamers not to believe the social media mouthpieces who spout nonsense about our town from the comfort of their armchairs or bedrooms – and who usually have their own personal axe to grind. Instead look for reliable, honest and trustworthy sources of information.

“From the surveys we do, we know that most Oldhamers are proud to come from here, proud of our borough and, for that matter, happy with the services the council provides. I think we all need to start to challenge people who constantly talk Oldham down and tell lies about this place.

“Challenging disinformation is difficult, but those of us who care about the truth all have a duty to do it, whether that’s the council, the LDRS or ordinary, decent Oldhamers in their everyday conversations with friends, family and colleagues.
“Let’s all show some pride in our place.”