This years green flag awards have been announced today on the very same day Oldham council is showing the Britain in bloom judges around a sanitised version of Oldham, here’s how Greater Manchester fared: Bolton 1 green flag park, Bury 12, Manchester 6, Oldham 2, Rochdale 8, Salford 6, Stockport 0, Tameside 1, Trafford 8 and Wigan 4. Oldham council is constantly selling its sustainable green credentials with token photo opportunistic schemes in target areas such as the green dividend fund, veg in the park, Oldham in bloom and food chains for EU. No mention is ever made of the destruction of the green fields of Foxdenton which has started this month nor the building of homes on sports pitches or the consequences of the yet to be realised GM spacial framework. When your parks and open green spaces become a secondary consideration to the temporary town centre oversized Oldham in bloom planter then your rhetoric is exposed for all to see.