Labour leader plotting future
Date published: 10 June 2011
FREE parking for disabled drivers, extra support for school leavers and more power to District Partnerships could all become a reality if Labour’s emergency budget plans are approved.
Cabinet members will discuss a range of new proposals to redirect funds from the existing budget into the priorities of the new Labour administration for 2011/12.
If approved, the revisions — worth just over £2million over two years — would kick-start the crucial work needed to transform the authority into a co-operative council.
Council leader Jim McMahon said: “The changes that we are proposing here are focussed chiefly on investment in neighbourhoods. These are linked to our central aim to devolve power back to new district offices that are responsive to residents’ needs and aspirations and will offer visible civic leadership.
“Our proposals are also driven by a determination to remove unnecessary red tape, waste and non-essential spending.”
The emergency budget proposes to reverse a series of decisions made by the previous Liberal Democrat administration. These include reopening Limecroft care home, reinstating free parking for disabled badge holders on all council-owned car parks and reinstating free car parking at Daisy Nook and Tandle Hill country parks. Changes designed to strengthen neighbourhood working also feature heavily.
These include redirecting £351,000 in 2011/2 and £551,000 in 2012/3 from the previous administration’s Priority Investment Fund (PIF) plus making a set of improvements to District Partnership budgets to remove red-tape and enable them to access funding for larger-scale investments based on residents’ needs.
As part of the commitment to investing in young people, the emergency budget also proposes to provide £200,000 to the Junior University scheme.
Funding for these changes would come from a variety of sources including a reduction in councillors’ allowances and benefits, a review of Trust Oldham, rent recovery for Henshaw House from Unity Partnership and reduced staffing in the leaders’ office, members’ secretariat and other services.
The Cabinet meeting will take place at 4pm on Monday in the Crompton Suite at the civic centre.
