Paul John O’Neill-Councillor for North Heywood

13/09/2026

Nigel is a legend! My favourite RBC employee. He is so dedicated!

13/09/2026

So this week in North Heywood..
-I have met with a senior RBC officer on behalf of a vulnerable resident who has experienced poor service from the council, with the aim of resolving this and improving future service for the resident and those like him.
-I met with the head of audit as part of my role as chair of the council audit and governance committee, where we scrutinise council procedures and make sure the council is being run fairly, transparently and honestly for all Heywood and Rochdale Borough residents.
-I attended the annual Charities Fete in Queens Park; a fantastic annual event that raises much needed money for great causes and has a host of activities for the community.
-I received thanks from a resident who I have supported through a housing issue.
I attended the Health, Schools and Care scrutiny committee, as part my committee role scrutinising the level of healthcare, educational offering and social care in Heywood and the wider Borough.
I followed up on several pieces of casework, including getting disrespectful graffiti cleaned from the memorial sign for Henry Hill Close. Henry Hill was a World War One veteran who also designed Heywood’s Catholic Church, Our Lady & St Joseph’s, which stands on nearby Mary Street and at which I am a regular attendee and parishioner.

My next advice surgery is next Saturday at 10.30am, at Heywood Library. ☺️ ☀️

Have a top week everyone.

11/09/2026

Great idea for local events people! Join! I have. 🙂🙂

The first Weekly events update has gone onto the whatsapp channel "Heywood Local Events & Activities". Can people let me know if its worked? If it notified / bleeped you?
Also any suggestions - formatting, how to grow the channel, anything!
If we can grow this channel we could really benefit our town - bypassing Facebook algorithms to get events and activities out there. Benefits for local businesses, organisations - a free way for them to add to their communications. Also benefiting the whole community by bringing people together 😍🤩

05/09/2026

So this week in North Heywood..

-I carried on working with the local bowling club to protect their green in Queens Park.
-I carried on supporting residents with ward issues from housing to fly tipping.
-I attended the Rochdale Boroughwide Housing drop-in session at Sandon House, Heywood, to listen to the housing officers’ concerns, and be present for any RBH residents who might need my help.
-I attended the regular Sandon House community coffee morning to speak to residents and support the event (and I won a prize in the raffle, although I did donate it back🤣)
-I held my second ward advice surgery in a week, together with my colleague Cllr Place, at Recovery Republic, to listen to residents’ issues and concerns.
-I attended and contributed to an event for all Heywood people as we discussed how to bring our community together and foster love and acceptance over hatred, blame and division.

For this last event I wore the wedding ring of my dear friend, confidante and unique person in my life, Craig, who gave it to me as a token of his love in February having lost his husband the year before, and whom then we sadly lost in April, aged 40. Despite his many health and personal issues, he remained a firm, outspoken and uncompromising defender of love over hate, and had the best bullsh*t meter for those who preach bigotry of anyone I’ve ever met.
It felt right to wear this today as he was with me.

Please email me with any issues on Paul.o’[email protected], and especially about any potholes as we now have some extra money to fix them in the borough!

Next ward advice surgery in two weeks time, Saturday 19th September, Heywood Library, 10.30am.

Meanwhile, see you around the ward and pleas always say hello. ☺️ 🌹

05/09/2026

Could anyone who has noticed any urgent potholes in North Heywood ward who hasn’t yet reported them to the council or to me, please email me on Paul.o’[email protected]? Hopefully we can get some serious action here! 😄

GREAT NEWS Rochdale Borough Council’s Highways- Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale and Pennines is receiving £5,243,000 extra funding to tackle potholes from Bev Craig for Greater Manchester Mayor’s new £60M Greater Manchester Pot Hole Funding.

03/09/2026

Wow! A fantastic opportunity for artists! Closing date: Thursday October 1st 2026. Check this out via the QR code.

03/09/2026

I will be sharing this with residents, as we still get a lot of problems with potholes in North Heywood. But very good news!

GREAT NEWS Rochdale Borough Council’s Highways- Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale and Pennines is receiving £5,243,000 extra funding to tackle potholes from Bev Craig for Greater Manchester Mayor’s new £60M Greater Manchester Pot Hole Funding.

03/09/2026

Rochdale's year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture generated more than £5.5 million with tens of thousands of people enjoying events across the town. From live performances to food and drink and mural festivals, there were almost 300 Town of Culture-related activities taking place throughout the...

03/09/2026

REGULAR ADVICE SURGERY TIME CHANGE THIS SATURDAY, 5TH SEPTEMBER, WILL NOW BE AT THE SLIGHTLY LATER TIME OF 11.30AM UNTIL 12.30PM. RECOVERY REPUBLIC, YORK ST.

This is due to Cllr Bev Place and I attending an important local community meeting in Heywood at 10.30am.