£2.5m to breathe life into town

Veronica Jackson

Plan to open gallery and library on Sundays

GALLERY Oldham and the library will open on Sundays as part of £2.5 million plans to brighten up Oldham town centre and boost civic pride.

As well as the extended opening hours, the initiative will also see the town enter the Britain in Bloom contest and improve the town centre Christmas promotions.

Plans to provide a gallery cafe are also being explored, and a separate scheme to bring the old Victorian library and art gallery back into use are being worked on.

Councillors will vote at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting on Sunday opening, which will cost £108,000 a year.

Currently there is a four-hour express library on Sundays and the Gallery is closed.

But over 600,000 visits are made each year to the Cultural Quarter, including the library, gallery and local studies archive.

Veronica Jackson, executive director of people, communities and society, says visitor comments and letters from people who have travelled to Oldham reveal disappointment that the gallery shuts Sundays.

She adds: “There is a demand, particularly from families in Oldham, for the gallery to be open on bank holidays, and it can be assumed that this audience would also appreciate and benefit from services being available on Sundays.”

Councillors will also vote on how to use over £2.5 million for priority investments and new ways of working.

The bulk (£1.3 million) will be targeted at achieving safer, greener and stronger communities and more than a quarter (£750,000) will be aimed at fighting unemployment and boosting educational achievement.

Council leader, Councillor Howard Sykes, said, “We have been busy searching out savings and any new money is hard won. We have to ensure it makes maximum impact.

“We have made a good start but are also putting in place a process to test ideas against our main priorities. We will be looking to agree a further batch of initiatives for action by the end of July.”

A working party of councillors has also been looking at ways of saving significant historic public buildings in the town centre.

English Heritage is being asked to help to preserve the grade II listed Union Street library and art gallery building, which could be used as a new combined museum, local studies and archive facility.