Oldham neighbourhood was like a ‘war zone’ before police crackdown, people say as Labour makes election pledge

People living on an Oldham estate say it was like a ‘war zone’ with ‘gangs running around with machetes’, with neighbours unable to ‘go out after dark’.

While a major police crackdown brought back a sense of community, there are fears things could be sliding backwards. But promises have been made by Labour to continue rolling out similar operations across Greater Manchester.

Operation Vulcan was a major police crackdown that began in 2022 to clear the area around Cheetham Hill and Strangeways of the trade of illegal goods and organised crime. Following that success, the operation moved to Piccadilly Gardens; the Derker estate in Oldham; and Brinnington in Stockport.

The operation sees a massive increase in police presence in certain areas, stamping out crime while also looking to help build up a stronger community. In Oldham, it was brought in following a shooting in the area.

In 10 months, there were more than 200 arrests in the area; 700 stop-searches; 200 vehicles seized; 54 weapons taken off the streets, including four firearms; and thousands of pounds worth of drugs recovered.

Violent went down by 25 per cent, cops say, with incidents of antisocial behaviour down by 26pc compared to the previous year.

Angela Cosgrove was, until recently, a Labour councillor for the area and a family member’s car got firebombed. She said: “It went from a war zone back to the community. There were gangs running around with machetes. You couldn’t come out after dark. It became the norm.”

Charlotte Jones – a member of the Friends of Stoneleigh Park – said people are now more likely to come forward with information, with ‘people startubg to speak to their neighbours and respect their neighbours’.

There are however lingering concerns things could be going backwards.   Meeting with people from the area on July 13, Labour’s candidate in the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election Bev Craig said she would invest more in neighbourhood policing, with more Vulcan-style crackdowns across the region and a further crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

Responding to the concerns raised in Derker, she said: “It’s not a surprise because I have lived in Greater Manchester my whole adult life and I have represented communities that have been talking for a long time about the need for more policing on the streets. It’s why you’ve seen numbers now brought bringing police numbers back to where they were in 2010 and why we want to go further.

“It’s also one of the reasons I am standing to be Mayor because there’s actually a lot of things I think we can change by working with communities and listening to them. It doesn’t come as a shock to me. It’s a driving reason why I have got involved and want to make a bit of a difference.”

The Labour candidate added: “Part of that in my view is a sense for too long antisocial behaviour and links to criminality have been too embedded in too many of our communities. I want to expand Vulcan and make sure there’s an opportunity for a Vulcan style operation in every single borough of Greater Manchester.

“I also want to be really clear around a new neighbourhood guarantee on antisocial behaviour that binds in police, council, and housing providers where we don’t have to wait for crime to get to Vulcan levels before people take action.”

She said there would also be investment in schemes aimed at reducing violence and crime alongside visible policing and more ‘bobbies on the streets’. Ms Craig said she would also crack down further on people riding on pavements.

She added: “Too many people, particularly in the summer, are plagued by off road bikes and kids in balaclavas creating antisocial behaviour. People don’t report that because they don’t think anything would happen as a consequence.

“Some areas might need that. Some areas might need more of a focused Vulcan operation where we can do what we have been doing already seizing assets and taking the proceeds of criminality and putting them into neighbourhood facilities like we have done in Derker.

“This is about practical change on the ground through visible policing and clear action.”