About Oldham news

Oldham Council has ended 2025 with a clutch of national honours and a string of bricks-and-mortar wins that residents can already walk through. In July the authority became one of a handful of UK councils to receive the Ministry of Defence's Gold Award for employing and supporting veterans, while June brought the Local Government Chronicle trophy for 'Most Improved Council' after three years of tighter finances and service redesign.

Physical change is catching up with the paperwork. Snipe Gardens opened in June as a new green doorway into the centre, and builders moved onto the five-acre Tommyfield Park site in December, the first open space built in the retail core since the 1970s. A children's playground beside the Spindles shopping area was finished earlier in the month, giving families an immediate reason to linger.

Culture is also on the calendar. The Oldham Coliseum building, dark since 2022, is scheduled to reopen in 2026 under new management, and the council's £5 million down-payment on the £70 million SportsTown campus near Boundary Park keeps the project alive despite inflation pressures.

Behind the headlines sits a harder story: the council balanced its 2025-26 budget only after 14 years of government grants being withdrawn, and officers warn the same pain is baked into the following year. The accolades and new parks are welcome, but every extra flowerbed still has to be paid for from a shrinking local purse.