Pre-election vox

Big billboards are plastered across businesses in Oldham’s central wards.

Faces of smiling election candidates, draped in party colours or group logos, with ‘Vote for me on May 7’ messages printed large enough for drivers to read while weaving their way through densely parked-up avenues.

“This year feels a bit like it’s election-by-billboard,” one sitting councillor quips. “Rather than, you know, actually speaking to people on the door.” 

The billboards are just one sign that the local elections are just days away.

Next week, residents in Oldham will select a third of their council by voting in one new representative in each of the twenty wards in the borough.

And this year is set to be a tight race. Labour and the Conservatives popularity are waning nationally, Reform UK and the Greens are standing candidates in every area, and the presence of several strong independent groups in Oldham means vote shares could be split in up to seven ways in some wards. 

“I genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen,” a Labour campaigner says, then rattles off thirteen potential ‘battlegrounds’ – more than half of the borough. The sentiment is echoed by one of Oldham’s two biggest opposition groups. A Lib Dem source thinks if Labour are ‘lucky’ they’ll lose two of their 27 councillors – but could lose up to 12. Labour currently still have the biggest group in the council, despite losing overall control in 2024. 

Reform is due to make further inroads in the Royton wards, Failsworth, and parts of Chadderton, while many of the previous Labour safe seats in the central wards with high Asian heritage populations now seem up for grabs. Even in Saddleworth, traditionally Lib Dem and Conservative area, the picture is more complex this year. 

So, with tightly contested seats across the borough, every vote counts. 

But on the ground, many people in Oldham are so fed up with local politics, they’re not sure they’ll even make the trip to the polling station. 

“I still don’t know if I’m going to vote,” Mohammed, 44, tells the Local Democracy Reporting Service. He’s on a light jog around Alexandra Park and will only speak if we jog with him. “There’s just so much fighting [between the candidates]. People are dragging up people’s dirty laundry from the past and sharing it around families, in WhatsApp groups. And I do get it, everyone wants to know that the politicians representing you’ve got good characters. But it’s getting extreme, lots of families are getting involved.” 

Mohammed claims he witnessed campaigners from different political groups ‘facing off’ on the street outside his house in Glodwick – a situation that was only de-escalated when the community’s elders stepped in. Political groups in Oldham said they were unaware of this incident.  
“It didn’t come to blows,” he said. “But sooner or later someone is going to get hurt. Sometimes it feels like real gangland stuff. I just don’t want to be involved.” 

And he’s not the only one to feel jaded by what he sees of Oldham’s politics. Another man is sunning himself on a bench in the park. The 42-year-old looks relaxed, but his expression immediately sours at the mention of the election. 

“They’re all frauds,” he spits. “I don’t trust any of them. There’s a few good ones, but the rest just turn up for their allowances.” 
The man, born and raised in Alexandra, asked not to be named. 

“I’ll get my windows smashed in, or my car set on fire. I’m not joking, that’s what’s been going on,” he explained. “You should take care, you know.” 
He plans to spoil his ballot, frustrated that nothing seems to get done in his local area. 

He said: “For example, we’ve been asking for a Pelican crossing near the PureGym for years. I see a lot of mothers cross there with their kids, and people turn in at speed. It’s really dangerous. A kid was hit and killed further up the road just a few years ago. Seems like it takes someone dying for things to change.” 

It’s not just voters in the central wards who feel disillusioned by politics. Sarah Cotterill-Wareing, from Greenfield was on her way to the shops in Lees, admits she stopped voting years ago, and probably wouldn’t hand in her ballot this year either. 

“I know my mum would tell me Emily Pankhurst is turning in her grave,” the 50-year-old psychotherapist joked. “There’s quite a lot of…,” she paused to look for a diplomatic word. “passionate people, shall we say. People can get quite aggressive when it comes to sharing their political views in Oldham. So I just don’t get involved. I just hate that so many people seem to share stuff – like things they see on Facebook – when they don’t have any factual basis for it.” 

Others see this election as an opportunity to try something new.  
Julie, 59, and Pauline Warren, 82, are a mother-daughter who hail from Lees, but were waiting for a taxi in the town centre after a spot of shopping at the last remaining outdoor shops at Tommyfield market. 

“I just can’t believe they’re knocking all this down,” Pauline said, gesturing to the market. “And now they’re digging up all the cobbles in the town centre AGAIN, which they keep doing. They dug the park up too. It’s endless.” 
After a pause, she adds: “And there’s too many foreigners.” 

Asked if they thought that would influence their vote in the local election, Julie cuts in: “No. I think it’s just flogging a dead horse to be honest. It’s more the housing and parking. They’re building a college here, but there’s nowhere to park. They’ve moved the market – but where can they park?” 
Both are firm that they won’t be voting Labour this time – despite having done so at previous elections. “We’re going to give that Sonny Shah a go, from the Oldham Group,” Julie said. 

“He’s going to get stuff done,” Pauline adds, before they dash off for their ride. 

Local elections have always been a bit of a temperature check for the national government. But the lines between local and national politics are becoming blurred, according to some voters. 

Roy Willans, 66, (pictured below) a retired draftsman from Hollinwood cites pavement parking as one of his major local concerns – because of its impact on those on mobility scooters and wheelchairs. He’s out walking his 13-year-old dog Fudge in a stroller and says his local council ‘don’t do bad’ – but he’s planning to vote Reform this time.

“The Conservatives and Labour have had their time, they’re both the same. It’s time for someone else to have a go. [Reform] might be terrible, they might be good. Either way, it’s time to give them a shot. 

“It is the national issues rather than the local, for me. They all keep saying they’re going to stop illegal immigration, but the numbers just keep rising. I get they need somewhere to go. I just don’t understand why we’re spending all this money on housing them – and then you see them trying to close down services like Chadderton Hall Park [adult day care centre], or people who can’t afford their own care. The money is really tight.”  

Elsewhere, it’s the local battles that have swayed the vote. Julie Johnson, 70, is a retired sales representative who has lived in Grasscroft for 22 years. She’s passionate about her local village. 

“But soon it won’t be a village anymore,” she said, pausing on her way to the pharmacy in Lees. “What were fields only two years ago are now massive housing estates. And they’re just going to build more. It does bother me. Because if they build on it, that’s it. You can never get it back to what it was.” 

She won’t disclose who she’ll be voting for – but makes it clear she wants a change. 

With votes split so many different ways, and areas like Failsworth, Chadderton, and many of the central wards facing knife-edge elections, the outcome on May 7 is likely to be volatile. And some believe what Oldham needs more than anything is not more change – but stability. 

“We’ve been bobbing back and forth between Labour and Reform,” Stephen Jones, 71, said. The retired warehouse manager has lived in St James for 50 years with his partner Tracey Jones, 61, who works in retail. 

Tracey went on: “We think we’re going to go for Labour though. Otherwise the council will be split in so many different ways, they just won’t get anything done. They’re already attacking each other all the time, and that will just get worse.” 
The big issue in their area is litter, according to the couple. 

“There’s not a clean street in our area,” Tracey said. “There’s dead rats everywhere, a lot of fly-tipping. It was lovely when we moved there together, but ever since Covid-19 it’s gone really bad. We think it’s because of all the buy-to-lets in the area. People are only there for a short time, so they don’t care about their neighbourhood.” 

Stephen chimed in: “But in general, we back Arooj Shah [the leader of Oldham council]. She really fights for things and she’s inclusive – she wants everyone to be represented and she’s done a brilliant job on the Coliseum, and on the Eton school, and the market. She’s what’s swayed us to vote Labour.” 

The regeneration works taking place in the town centre have convinced others the town is going in the right direction too. The council recently opened the brand new £40m market on Parliament Square, where former Tommyfield Market traders have set up shop. 

Andrea Dolan, 49, (pictured below) sings the market’s praises as she speaks to the LDRS on its doorstep. She’s pro-Labour and will be voting for them in the local elections, she says.  

“I actually think they’ve done a fantastic job in the town centre,” the chiropractor from Chadderton said. “Just look around you. It looks amazing. I think the only thing I wish they spent more money on was social cohesion – we’re still a very divided community.”  

But her friend, Tracey Raftery, 62, a retired art technician, is less convinced. 

“They’ve always done Oldham up, for as long as I’ve known it. And my parents live in Oldham. They keep redoing it – and now they’re doing it yet again. We’ve just had a look around the market for the first time. It looks good, I really hope it works. But then there’s things like the new sports centre seems really inferior compared to the one we’ve lost. Instead of investing in the one we had, we sold that to get a lesser one. 

“In the past, I have just ripped up my ballot because there’s nobody there worth voting for. Local councillors seem to be inaccessible. We’ve protested against building on the greenbelt, and tried to attend council meetings and stuff like that. They’ll only accept questions ahead of time, only answer certain things, they’ll deny things in council meetings that later turn out to be true. It just doesn’t seem to work. It seems like they’re too busy with the political infighting to remember why they’re actually there.” 

Responding to some of the critiques levelled at the council, town hall boss Cllr Arooj Shah said: “Oldham is changing, and we are completely focused on delivering for the people who live here. Investment in the town centre is about unlocking growth for the whole borough.

Our approach is already bringing in hundreds of millions of pounds of external investment which has led to huge improvements such as the new Market and The Loom. At the same time, we have also secured major funding for other areas, including £20 million each for Chadderton and Alt through Pride in Place.

“We do not recognise the negative caricature of an Oldham that is divided which has recently appeared in some national media. The reality is that we are a council that supports communities, and we are building a future people can be proud of in partnership with the people who live here. Change does not happen overnight, but it is happening, and we will always put Oldham’s residents first.” 

It’s a hugely mixed bag in some of Oldham’s key election battlegrounds, and across the borough. And with the council already in no overall control, May 7 could see Labour lose its grip on the council entirely, and be replaced by unusual coalitions from across the political spectrum.
“Whatever the outcome,” one council source commented, “It’s probably going to be chaos.”