Police chief invited to meet parish council

Saddleworth Parish Council

AN INVITATION has been made to Oldham police’s Chief Supt Tim Forber about concerns over the future of popular Saddleworth events.

Parish councillors will ask him to attend the January meeting to discuss policing of events such as the Whit Friday band contests and the scrapped Saddleworth Beer Walk.

The call came from councillor Ken Hulme who said such events have a far-reaching impact on the Saddleworth community.

Councillors Mike Buckley, Garth Harkness and Robert McCann all asked for greater detail of costs involved in policing large-scale events in Saddleworth and asked to know why policing priority was being shown to other areas of the borough.

But councillor Bill Cullen said making contact with the police would be just a minor part of ensuring the events go ahead as planned next year.

He put the blame on Oldham Council for ‘pulling the plug’ on clean-up costs for the band contests.

He added: “We still don’t know whether street cleaning and clean up costs are going to be met by the council. Police presence has been kept to a minimum, apart from in Uppermill, for the last few years.

“If the committees are forced to cover costs paid by the council in the past then small contests and events are just going to go.”