Howard Sykes MBE, who served as Leader of Oldham Council from 2008 to 2011, was presented with the President's Award for Lifetime Achievement in Local Government at the recent Liberal Democrat Conference.
Councillor Sykes retired from Oldham Council this year after 40 years' of unbroken service as both borough and parish (now town) councillor for Shaw. When first elected, he was the youngest councillor in the country. He went on to lead the Liberal Democrat Group for 20 years.
Outside Oldham he was influential from his early career as a co-founder of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors, an organisation to develop the skills of councillors and aspiring councillors, and eventually its leader.
Councillor Sykes took on his greatest challenge when the Liberal Democrats took over Oldham Council from Labour in 2008. Oldham was officially rated third-worst council in the country and was under imminent threat of a compulsory government takeover. He led a team which established financial control, streamlined the organisation, improved services and even delivered a zero Council Tax rise.
This led to his being much in demand as a Local Government Association (LGA) trainer and mentor at other councils. He was elected leader of the Liberal Democrat section of the LGA.
This lifetime recognition was the latest in a series of awards; most notably, his MBE in 2014, which was for services to local government.
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