Spending row on £200,000 for N-W in bloom

Blooming proud: Council leader Howard Sykes and his deputy, Councillor Jackie Stanton, defend themselves against charges of wasting council taxpayers’ money as they show off the makeover at the old town hall

An ugly row is brewing over Oldham Council’s decision to spend £200,000 on sprucing up the town centre as part of Oldham’s North-West in Bloom entry.

After council staff last week unveiled the new look old town hall, complete with colourful paintings by local artists, Councillor Dave Hibbert attacked the moves, saying that the money would be better spent on new alleygates across the borough.

He said: “The council has decided to spend £200,000 on hanging baskets and planters in Yorkshire Street, where nobody lives, and on cartoons on the boards over the windows of the empty town hall.

“Their justification for this is a pretty town centre will make people feel better and that it will encourage outside developers to invest in the borough. None of the £200,000 will be spent on other constituent town centres.”

As well as the old town hall paintings, which include reproductions from a number of well-known artists, including John Stanley Bates and Harry Rutherford, floral displays and trees have been installed around the town centre and in the New Deal for Communities Area, Fitton Hill. St Mary’s Way is also being developed as a wildflower garden as part of the scheme, alongside a new gateway garden in Ashton Road.

Councillor Hibbert added: “Nobody would doubt the attractiveness of flowers, but should they be such a priority that the council spends £200,000 of council taxpayers’ money on them? The flowers should be provided out of existing parks budgets.”

But council leader, Councillor Howard Sykes, hit back, saying: “If Dave Hibbert thinks that all the money for this should come from the parks budget then which parks does he think we should close and rip all the trees from to fund it.

“That’s what we’d have to do if we were to pay for it entirely out of the parks budget. Would he like to see Chadderton Hall Park being closed?

“This is about bigging up the town centre. Not everybody lives here, but people come to visit here, people are employed here and that’s how the local economy works.”

Councillor Hibbert said: “This huge amount of money would be better spent on alleygating projects. Alleygates are extremely popular all across the borough. They provide security, peace of mind and an improved quality of life for thousands of residents. They reduce crime, remove rat-runs and create communal spaces for near-by residents and bring people together.”

Deputy leader, Councillor Jackie Stanton, said the council could afford the £200,000 spend because it had been planned for across different department budgets. She added: “It will be worth every penny. It will encourage people to come into the town centre, use the facilities here, shop here and spend their money locally.

“You only have to look at how much extra interest all the Christmas events create to see how things like this can benefit a town.

“If this puts a sense of pride back into our town centre, then we have achieved what we set out to achieve.

“There are many positive things going on with this entry. Children from Blue Coat School have been gaining valuable work experience with the parks department to plant a lot of our flowers.

“Many of these changes, including the paintings, will be permanent.

“The community safety strategy will go before cabinet in the next few months and we will allocate alleygates according to where there is a proven case that there is a need in a given area.”

She said the plan was to move the competition to different districts around the borough in future years, adding: “It’s sad that Councillor Hibbert has chosen to turn this into a political football.”