Leader’s bid to cull councillors rejected
Reporter: Richard Hooton
Date published: 21 April 2011
Sykes’s plan ‘kicked into long grass’ after rebellion
RADICAL plans to slash the number of councillors in Oldham by a third have been kicked into the long grass.
Oldham Council leader Councillor Howard Sykes was left furious after his plans to reduce the number of members from 60 to 40 — two per ward — to save £350,000 a year were sabotaged after some of his own Liberal Democrat councillors and Tory coalition partners voted against him.
His proposal at last night’s full council meeting would have kick-started the process, but it was delayed by councillors.
Tory councillor John Hudson proposed instead that the matter be referred back to a scrutiny committee for further consideration.
It was passed by the tightest of margins — 30 to 28 — after Lib-Dem councillor Mike Buckley and two Tories voted with Labour and Lib-Dem councillor Alan Roughley abstained.
Councillor John Battye later said he believed it was the first time in 31 years that an administration had lost a vote on Oldham Council.
Councillor Sykes said he was unsure what would happen next but said his proposal had been kicked into the long grass and predicted it would now never see the light of day.
The scrutiny committee had already considered the issue last week when it questioned if there had been sufficient consultation, indicated it was difficult to put forward a collective view and asked for it to be deferred for three months.
Councillor Sykes said Labour had tried everything to stop the changes and were scared of debating it.
Proposing the cut in councillors, he told the council meeting: “This is a unique opportunity to stand side by side with staff and citizens of our borough; a very positive response to sharing the pain of job losses and cut backs.
“This is very much a new era, the nature, size of council and its workforce are changing; we are repositioning the council — why should councillors be immune?
“For too long councillors have dished out bad news and pain, but ensured it didn’t affect them. Times have to change and under this proposal they will. We really do believe ‘We are all in it together’.”
The cut in councillors would also have meant having elections every two years for half the council.
But Labour leader Councillor Jim McMahon accused Councillor Sykes of “cynical politics playing to a cynical public fed up with politicians full stop.”
He said the public were so disillusioned with politicians they would have agreed to cut the number of councillors by 60.
But out of 250,000 people in Oldham there was only one valid response during consultation, he said.
Councillor McMahon added that it had only been proposed because an election was looming and was not about improving democracy or getting councillors closer to constituents but was just cheap politics.
Cabinet had already backed the plans saying it would make the local authority leaner, more efficient and save money.
The plan would have needed a review by the Boundary Commission and permission from the Secretary of State.
