Believe in Oldham

‘With the right passion for the town we can do a lot’
new council leader Jim McMahon has been finalising his new Cabinet since Labour swept to power in Oldham last week.

He said he is now ready to take action on what residents want and bring about new ways of working.

He added: “National politics played out in the local elections but the Lib-Dems and Tories in Oldham made bad decisions.

“They shouldn’t have closed the day-care centres, they shouldn’t have closed libraries the previous year.

“These are front-line services people rely on.”

Savings to the budget will be made by cutting paid positions within the council, members allowances and the number of council managers, as well as linking the work of back office managerial staff with other local authorities in Greater Manchester.

“There will have to be cuts,” he said. “The council has to save £54million over the next three years, there has to be reduction in spending.

“Because of budget constraints, we can’t maintain the same number of jobs, but can keep services.

“With the right political leadership and passion for the town, we can do a lot.

“It’s a case of reducing managers and shared working.”

New town halls will be created in Oldham’s six districts as a way of bringing the council closer to residents. A designated manager in each town hall will oversee the running of services, such as youth services and street cleaning, in their area.

District Partnerships will continue but with more constitutional power and larger budgets, and councillors will be expected to work harder for their communities.

Councillor McMahon will carry out a two-month review of democracy in Oldham with concrete proposals ready for publication by the end of July.

He also plans to make Oldham a co-operative council by 2012, with residents having a bigger say in the way money is spent. Immediate priorities will be the reopening of Limecroft Care Home, in Whitebank Road, Limeside, by the end of June. It was closed at the end of March due to cuts.

Other priorities include sorting out the retail economy in the Union Street corridor, focusing on Hollinwood as a key gateway into the town, and looking at ways of attracting investors from the private sector into the borough.

Councillor McMahon also said he was committed to keeping Latics in Oldham.

Speaking about the future, he said: “It’s going to be challenging, it is a long-term project and we won’t resolve things in 12 months. But I hope people see a change very early on.

“Oldham needs to be confident in itself and stop beating itself up. We believe in Oldham — it’s time people got behind Oldham.”