Arooj Shah

Arooj Shah
Leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
Assumed office
8 May 2023
Preceded byAmanda Chadderton
Member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Assumed office
May 2023
Preceded byAmanda Chadderton
Member of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council for St Mary's
In office
4 May 2023 –
Previous posts
Leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
In office
19 May 2021 – 5 May 2022
Preceded bySean Fielding
Succeeded byAmanda Chadderton
Member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority
In office
May 2021 – 5 May 2022
Member of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council for Chadderton South
In office
3 May 2018 – 5 May 2022
Personal details
BornSeptember 1978 (age 46)
Political partyLabour
[1]

Arooj Shah is a British Labour politician and since May 2023 is the leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council in Greater Manchester, a position she also previously held between 2021 and 2022. As leader she is a member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and is the combined authority's portfolio lead for Equalities and Communities.[2] She was the first Muslim woman to take charge of a council in the north of England.[3]

First elected to the council in 2012, she was the councillor for the Chadderton South ward. She was elected as leader of the council in May 2021 after her predecessor Sean Fielding lost his seat in that year's election. Shah lost her seat in 2022 being beaten by Robert Barnes the Conservative candidate. She later re-gained a seat on the council at the 2023 election, topping the poll in the St Mary's ward.[4] Following the election, at which incumbent leader Amanda Chadderton was defeated, Shah was elected to lead the council again.[5]

  1. ^ "Arooj SHAH personal appointments". Retrieved 15 May 2022. Date of birth: September 1978
  2. ^ "Councillor Arooj Shah". Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  3. ^ "Oldham councillors choose first female Muslim leader". BBC News. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Big Tory losses and another Oldham leader deposed: your essential local elections briefing". The Mill. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  5. ^ "New Oldham council leader elected - the fourth in three years". Manchester Evening News. 9 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.

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