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Oldham Council has grouped its most-requested winter and housing services onto a single web page so residents can find school-closure alerts, gritting routes and heating grants without hunting across the site.
The same page links straight to housing help: social-housing applications, rent-debt advice and emergency homelessness support. It is the first time these two strands, usually buried in separate menus, sit together.
Council officers say the move follows a spike in calls during last January's cold snap, when switchboard logs showed people ringing one topic and then asking for the other. By pairing winter travel and warmth questions with housing security, the town hall hopes to cut repeat calls and speed up answers.
No new money is attached, but staff promise the page will be updated daily once ice or snow is forecast and within two hours of any school shutting its gates. Residents who rely on mobile data rather than home broadband should find the stripped-down list quicker to load.
If it works, the same one-stop format may be rolled out to roads, bins and benefits later this year.
At a Glance
| Services grouped | School closures, gritting routes, heating grants, social-housing applications, rent support, homelessness help |
|---|---|
| Trigger for change | High call volume during January 2025 cold snap with residents asking about both travel and housing in one call |
| Update speed promised | Daily refresh when ice forecast; within two hours of any school closure |
| Mobile-first design | Stripped list intended to load faster for residents using phone data |
| Next in line if pilot works | One-stop pages for roads, bins and benefits |
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