Parish councillors to push for more power

A BID to take on more powers is set to be launched by Saddleworth Parish Council.

At an upcoming meeting, Councillor Brian Lord will propose that the council explores what services it can take charge of that are currently provided by Oldham Council.

He says that more responsibility will signal a new age for the parish council teamed with the completion of Uppermill’s civic hall redevelopment.

He said: “Although we have been a Quality Parish Council, which allows us to run some local services, for some years now we have not taken the opportunity to do so. One of the reasons was that we had no spare room to house any new staff and we were working well with the old Area Committee by sharing many of the sub groups.

“However, following the redevelopment of the Civic Hall we now have the space we needed and with the enthusiasm of some of the new councillors we feel that the time is right to start talking to Oldham Council.”

Councillor Lord’s motion, to start up dialogue with the borough council, will be seconded by Councillor Mike Buckley.

Initial services that they’ll look at controlling will be the upkeep of footpaths and bridleways, allotments and community-toilet schemes.

The parish council already has limited involvement in such projects and Councillor Lord says it is logical to start taking whole responsibility of such provisions.

He added: “I truly hope that this is the beginning of a new era where Saddleworth will be at the forefront of the Government’s localism drive.”