Public feel let down over assembly hall delay

People feel let down by the eight-year wait for the Royton Assembly Hall to be completed, according to local Labour councillor Steven Bashforth.

The shadow cabinet member for community safety and public protection and a Royton South Councillor, said Labour wanted to buy back the hall and carry out repairs. But the Liberal Democrat administration had refused.

Last week the hall’s owner, Whispers, was fined by Oldham magistrates for two counts of blocking the public highway and one of breaking the terms of the development agreement with Oldham Council.

Councillor Bashforth added: “If I had not asked the chief executive last year to take action against Whispers then it would not have even been taken to court over these breaches.

“While I welcome the court’s decision, it is still not going to to solve the problem.”

He said that he and many other Roytoners felt Whispers had no intention of finishing the work, adding: “After waiting over eight years for Whispers to finish what should have been a 12-month project, there is still no end in sight.

“The only satisfactory solution is to bring the assembly hall back into public ownership as we in the Labour group intended.”