Directorates of the Council
The Council provides a wide range of services for the people of the Borough and manages an annual budget totalling over £300 million. Five directorates - Adult and Community Services, Children, Young People and Families, Environmental Services,Regeneration and Strategy and Resources - undertake the work of the Council.
Adult and Community Services
The Adult and Community Services Directorate delivers and commissions a wide range of services in partnership with members of the community and partners to create a vibrant, healthy and inclusive place to live, work and visit with services that make a positive difference to people's lives. The directorate is responsible for all services across all aspects of adult social care (including carers), community well being, housing strategy and cultural and leisure services.
Children, Young People and Families
Children, Young People and Families puts the five key outcomes of the Government's Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme at the heart of its work.
We believe that Oldham's children and young people have the right to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution to society and achieve economic well-being.
The directorate is responsible for the planning, commissioning and delivery of a wide range of services to children, young people and families. This includes a full education service through the Borough's 112 primary, special and secondary schools; children's social care services including services for Looked After Children, children in need of protection and children in need; youth services; extended learning services including outdoor and environmental education, music and sport; Sure Start Oldham and Lifelong Learning.
Environmental Services
The Environmental Services directorate has wide ranging responsibilities that include development and building control, environmental health, trading standards, licensing, home safety and the registration of births, deaths and marriages. The directorate is also in charge of roads, street lighting, traffic and parking management, road safety, local transport planning, highway bridges and structures, main drainage and control of dangerous buildings. Other functions include building repairs and maintenance, highways maintenance, school meals, specialist catering, fleet management, grounds maintenance and refuse collection and street cleaning, parks and open spaces and the Countryside Service.
Regeneration
The Regeneration directorate, formed in July 2003, has brought together officers from other areas of the authority to lead the process of regeneration across the whole of the Borough.
The directorate is developing a programme of action which will move forward the proposals in the ‘Oldham Beyond’ visioning exercise. The main focus is on promoting and securing regeneration by:
- developing the Borough’s land and property and encouraging investment from private enterprise;
- taking maximum benefit for the people and communities of Oldham coming from the Housing Market Renewal initiative; and
- working with the North West Development Agency and English Partnerships.
The directorate brings together the various funding streams and co-ordinates regeneration activity both within the Council and in the wider community.
Strategy and Resources
The Strategy and Resources directorate provides financial, ICT, legal and personnel services to the Council and its other directorates. The directorate provides corporate planning and support for what is a very large and complex business. The professional staff of the directorate includes lawyers, accountants, personnel officers, journalists, town planners, graphic designers, printers and computer specialists, all dedicated to providing excellent public services for Oldham. It provides a range of direct services including benefits administration, and works in partnership with other organisations to fight crime and provide a co-ordinated response to emergencies.
First Choice Homes Oldham
First Choice Homes Oldham is an arm's length management organisation that manages and maintains over 17,000 properties on behalf of Oldham Council.
The company operates a total maintenance service and has a 24-hour repairs service operating from six different area offices. Tenants are heavily involved in the management of the organisation and sit on the main and six local boards. First Choice Homes Oldham has been awarded a two star rating which places it within the top 25 per cent of local authority housing providers. However, the rating more importantly means that £72 million has been awarded to Oldham to be invested in Council housing over the next five years.
Oldham Community Leisure
Sports and leisure centres in the Borough are run by the co-operative Oldham Community Leisure Limited (OCLL) which is responsible for the day-to-day management and operations of the sites.