THE CLOSURE of the café at a Shaw park has been greeted with dismay.
GPCare, which operated The Woodlands at Dunwood, announced that because of staffing shortages they are ending their contract and vacating the premises after 18 months.
That has sparked a search for someone to take on the facility, which also includes public toilets.
And Cllr Louie Hamblett, Oldham Council’s shadow cabinet member for health and social care believes speed is of the essence.
He said: “Both elected members and the Friends of Dunwood Park have had a really good working relationship with the staff and managers who have helped with a number of events, along with ensuring that the park had plenty activities on all year round.
“From brass band and music events, open days at the growing hub, Halloween and a pumpkin trail, a dinosaur dash at Easter event, outdoor markets and Dunwood Wagg around Dog Show.
“The hope is to get the building back open as soon as possible especially as the toilets are open to the public, so the building really does provide a vital service to the community.
“I know my colleagues and the council will do their best to get a new operator in place before summer kicks in.”
Dunwood Park, on Smallbrook Road, is also at the centre of anger over the removal of bins by Oldham Council, apparently without warning.
Shaw Councillor Howard Sykes said, “The council has left the place looking like a tip. Rubbish is piling up and people who use the park are rightly furious.
“We had two perfectly good bins in the park. Where have they gone? And when are we getting them back?
“These are very simple questions, but Oldham Council has just been silent.
“I have contacted a number of different council officers about this, but it is a wall of silence.
“People in Shaw are getting a disgraceful service from Oldham Council at the moment. This is not good enough and people who use Dunwood Park deserve better.”
In response, Cllr Chris Goodwin, Oldham Labour’s Cabinet Member for Don’t Trash Oldham said: “Over the last few years, as part of our Don’t Trash Oldham campaign, we’ve been replacing all the borough’s street bins with newer and bigger ones.
“These new bins hold far more litter and waste than the old ones, are easier to empty and don’t need bin bags, which saves council taxpayers’ money.
“The smaller bins have been taken out of Dunwood Park, three of the larger bins have been installed already and when the final two bins are installed in the coming week, the capacity will have actually increased from 810 litres previously to 1,200 litres, all at easily accessible points in the park.
“Even if the capacity within the park wasn’t increasing as it is, people leaving their rubbish where a bin used to be is completely unacceptable.
“Let me be really clear, this isn’t the council leaving rubbish on the floor, a small number of inconsiderate people think it is fine to dump their waste and leave it for our employees and volunteers to pick up.
“Asking people to hold on to their rubbish for a bit longer until they’re near a bin is not a big ask.
“Oldham is home to some of the best parks and open spaces in Greater Manchester and council staff take pride in making sure they look their best for residents and visitors.”