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2022 Oldham Council election

← 2021 5 May 2022 2023 →
20 of 60 seats on Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council 31 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Arooj Shah Graham Sheldon Howard Sykes Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Last election 40 seats, 39.5% 8 seats, 23.9% 8 seats, 11.0% Seats won 35 seats 9 seats 9 seats Seat change 5 seats 1 seat 1 seat   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Failsworth Independent Party Independent Seats won 5 seats 2 seats
Map of the results, including the by-election in Medlock Vale
council control before election Labour Subsequent council control Labour

The 2022 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. One third—20 out of 60—of councillors on Oldham Council was elected. The election took place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom.

In the previous council election in 2021, the Labour Party maintained its control of the council, holding 40 of the council's 60 seats. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats held eight seats each, and various independents held the remaining four.

Labour maintained their majority on the council, but lost five of their seats to a total of thirty-five members.

Background

History

The Local Government Act 1972 created a two-tier system of metropolitan counties and districts covering Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire starting in 1974. Oldham was a district of the Greater Manchester metropolitan county. The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan counties, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority was created in 2011 and began electing the mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the former Greater Manchester metropolitan county.

Since its formation, Oldham Council has typically been under Labour control or no overall control, with a period of Conservative control from 1978 to 1980 and Liberal Democrat control from 2000 to 2002. Labour most recently gained overall control of the council in the 2011 election. The council leader Sean Fielding lost his seat to the Failsworth Independent Party in the most recent council election in 2021, in which Labour won nine of the twenty seats up for election, with the Conservatives winning five, the Liberal Democrats winning three and the Failsworth Independent Party winning two. Fielding had challenged the council's leader Jean Stretton in May 2018, demanding more street cleaners, landlord licensing, more housing in the city centre to reduce green belt development, and better connections to other areas of Greater Manchester.

Positions up for election in 2022 were last elected in 2018. In that election, 18 Labour councillors were elected, as were two Conservatives, and two Liberal Democrats.

Council term

After Sean Fielding's defeat, the council's deputy leader Arooj Shah was elected leader. She promised to spend more on street cleaning and stronger enforcement against littering and fly tipping, as well as proposing ways to support local businesses.

The Conservative councillor Sahr Abid resigned in March 2022 citing work commitments, having been elected in 2021. A by-election will be held to fill her seat alongside the main council election.

Electoral process

The council elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year. The election will take place by first-past-the-post voting, with wards generally being represented by three councillors, with one elected in each election year to serve a four-year term.

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Oldham aged 18 or over will be entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, are entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. Voting in-person at polling stations will take place from 07:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters will be able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.

Results summary

2022 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	11	5	52.4	24	35	58.3	25,995	46.0	+6.5
	Conservative	4	1	19.0	5	9	15.0	11,749	20.8	-3.1
	Liberal Democrats	3	1	14.3	6	9	15.0	7,435	13.2	+2.2
	Failsworth Independent Party	2	2	9.5	3	5	8.3	2,892	5.1	-0.1
	Independent	1	1	4.8	1	2	3.3	2,646	4.7	-4.4
	Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	4,092	7.2	+0.6
	Green	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	909	1.6	-1.2
	Northern Heart	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	520	0.9	-0.4
	National Housing Party	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	174	0.3	N/A
	ADF	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	79	0.1	N/A

Ward results

The results are as follows:

Alexandra

Alexandra

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Shaid Mushtaq	1,401	76.3	+6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Dinoff	264	14.4	+8.9
	Green	Andrea Chaverra Valencia	172	9.4	+1.4
Majority			1,137	61.9	9.6
Turnout			1,837	24.14
	Labour hold		Swing

Chadderton Central

Chadderton Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colin McLaren	1,340	51.8	+2.8
	Conservative	Sharif Miah	818	31.6	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Barbara Beeley	153	5.9	+1.2
	Northern Heart (UK) Oldham	Cath Jackson	145	5.6	−1.0
	Green	Jess Mahoney	130	5.0	−1.8
Majority			522	20.2	4.1
Turnout				31.29
	Labour hold		Swing

Chadderton North

Chadderton North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Barbara Brownridge	1,546	53.1	+5.5
	Conservative	Moudud Ahmed	1,027	35.3	+19.8
	Green	Daniel Clayton	173	5.9	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Katie Gloster	165	5.7	+1.9
Majority			519	17.8	0.9
Turnout				34.95
	Labour hold		Swing

Chadderton South

Coldhurst

Crompton

Crompton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Dave Murphy	1,353	51.0	+9.1
	Conservative	Phelyp Bennett	617	23.2	−12.0
	Labour	Syed Ali	377	14.2	+1.1
	Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth	Chelle Moore	307	11.6	N/A
Majority			736	26.8	20.1
Turnout				32.85
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Failsworth East

Failsworth West

Hollinwood

Hollinwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jean Stretton	1,010	58.9	+6.5
	Conservative	Maqsood Hussain	313	18.3	−5.9
	National Housing Party Our People First	John Lawrence	174	10.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Karen Barton	151	8.8	+3.7
	Northern Heart (UK) Oldham	Rob Vance	67	3.9	N/A
Majority			697	40.6	12.4
Turnout				22.30
	Labour hold		Swing

Medlock Vale

Royton North

Royton South

Royton South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Marie Bashforth	1,039	43.0	+1.4
	Conservative	Gary Tarbuck	967	40.0	+2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jeff Garner	124	5.1	+0.6
	Green	Jim Stidworthy	119	4.9	−2.4
	Independent	Anthony Prince	103	4.3	+0.5
	Northern Heart (UK) Oldham	Anne Fiander-Taylor	67	2.8	−2.7
Majority			72	3.0	1.3
Turnout				29.86
	Labour hold		Swing

Saddleworth North

Saddleworth North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Pam Byrne	1,292	42.8	+7.3
	Labour Co-op	Joshua Charters	867	28.7	+10.8
	Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth	Gary Kershaw	527	17.5	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Mick Scholes	334	11.1	−13.2
Majority			425	14.1	2.9
Turnout				39.21
	Conservative hold		Swing

Saddleworth South

Saddleworth South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris McManus	1,196	34.6	−1.1
	Labour	John Fay	819	23.7	+0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Dawson	673	19.5	+3.7
	Independent	Helen Bishop	468	13.5	+5.2
	Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth	Simon Hodgson	302	8.7	−2.3
Majority			377	10.9	1.9
Turnout				42.76
	Conservative hold		Swing

Saddleworth West & Lees

Shaw

Shaw

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Hazel Gloster	1,030	42.7	−5.5
	Proud of Oldham and Saddleworth	Marc Hince	928	38.5	+15.3
	Labour Co-op	Dion Linton	453	18.8	+2.6
Majority			102	4.2	20.8
Turnout				32.35
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

St James

St Mary's

Waterhead

Waterhead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Riaz Ahmad	1,350	59.4	+9.4
	Conservative	Lynne Kovacs	435	19.2	−2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Dawson	245	10.8	−2.4
	Northern Heart (UK) Oldham	Paul Taylor	241	10.6	±0.0
Majority			915	40.2	11.8
Turnout				26.71
	Labour hold		Swing

Werneth

Werneth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shoab Akhtar	2,730	88.5	+8.8
	Conservative	Mohammad Alom	179	5.8	−6.7
	Liberal Democrats	Pat Lord	175	5.7	−2.2
Majority			2,551	82.7	15.5
Turnout				35.41
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. Local Government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. London: HMSO. 1974. p. 7. ISBN 0-11-750847-0.
2. "The Greater Manchester Combined Authority Order 2011". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
3. Green, Charlotte (6 May 2021). "The Oldham local council election 2021 results". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
4. "Oldham now has one of the country's youngest council chiefs - so what does he have planned?".
5. Green, Charlotte (3 May 2018). "What are the Oldham local elections 2018 results?". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
6. "Cllr Arooj Shah to be new leader of Oldham Council". www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
7. "Oldham councillors choose first female Muslim leader". BBC News. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
8. "Councillor resigns after just ten months in the role". www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
9. "Local government structure and elections". GOV.UK. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
10. "Election Timetable in England" (PDF).
11. Council, Oldham. "Local Election results May 5 2022 | Oldham Council". www.oldham.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2022.

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