Following the sad passing of Cllr Jean Stretton, a former Leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, a by-election will take place on Thursday 17th November, 2022 to elect a successor as one of the three councillors representing the Hollinwood ward.
Labour Party colleagues, Cllr Kyle Phythian and Steve Williams, presently hold the other two seats and the red rosette on this occasion will be worn by the experienced and well regarded Hannah Roberts, a local librarian, who lost her Royton North seat in controversial circumstances at the local elections in May, 2022. She was the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by an infamous conspiracy theorist from the neighbouring Borough of Tameside.
The Liberal Democrats have selected Dominic Cadman. A member since 2016, he is highly rated by fellow Party members. He works as an Asset Manager at Vestas in Chester and lives in Chadderton.
Well known local businessman, Kamran Ghafoor (pictured above), will represent the troubled Oldham Conservatives (read more here). A Director of eight companies, he is probably best known as one of the owners of Cafe East, a popular Punjabi restaurant in Yorkshire Street, Oldham.
It is unclear whether ‘missing’ Tory councillor, Robert Barnes, who lives in Hollinwood, will campaign alongside Kamran in the by-election (read more here).
John Lawrence, who campaigned in the May 2022 election in Hollinwood, and secured 174 votes (against Cllr Stretton’s 1,010 votes), will stand as a National Housing Party UK candidate. ‘Big John’, as he prefers to be known, has a lengthy history with such as the British Nationalist Party and Britain First (read more here). He lives in the Mumps area of the town.
Other candidates may be declared before nominations close at 4pm today: Rob Vance, a former UKIP devotee, stood for Northern Heart (UK) Oldham in May 2022 but received only 67 votes.
After this article was published it was drawn to the author’s attention that the Party formerly known as Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth (POOS), now re-incarnated as Oldham Borough Independent (OBI), is putting up a local resident for election, Barbara Victoria Whitehead (known as Vicky). The POOS were forced to change their name after being identified as ‘a haven for racists and the far right’ in Oldham and neighbouring Saddleworth.
The OBI Facebook page says: “Barbara wants the opportunity to support and work for the community and bring to Hollinwood a hard working councillor to improve the area”.
In the event, Rob Vance’s name did not appear on the Council’s Notice of Poll and Statement of Persons Nominated.
Well known local businessman, Kamran Ghafoor (pictured above), will represent the troubled Oldham Conservatives (read more here). A Director of eight companies, he is probably best known as one of the owners of Cafe East, a popular Punjabi restaurant in Yorkshire Street, Oldham.
It is unclear whether ‘missing’ Tory councillor, Robert Barnes, who lives in Hollinwood, will campaign alongside Kamran in the by-election (read more here).
John Lawrence, who campaigned in the May 2022 election in Hollinwood, and secured 174 votes (against Cllr Stretton’s 1,010 votes), will stand as a National Housing Party UK candidate. ‘Big John’, as he prefers to be known, has a lengthy history with such as the British Nationalist Party and Britain First (read more here).
Other candidates may be declared before nominations close at 4pm today: Rob Vance, a former UKIP devotee, stood for Northern Heart (UK) Oldham in May 2022 but received only 67 votes.
After this article was published it was drawn to the author’s attention that the Party formerly known as Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth (POOS), now re-incarnated as Oldham Borough Independent (OBI), is putting up a local resident for election, Barbara Victoria Whitehead (known as Vicky). The POOS were forced to change their name after being identified as ‘a haven for racists and the far right’ in Oldham and neighbouring Saddleworth.
The OBI Facebook page says: “Barbara wants the opportunity to support and work for the community and bring to Hollinwood a hard working councillor to improve the area”.
The Labour Party defend a majority of 697 votes. Turnout at the last election was notably poor at 23%.
Page last updated Saturday 22nd October, 2022 at 0645hrs.
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