Council ‘forced into corner’ over council tax rise

ESSENTIAL services could face the axe as Oldham Council struggles to balance its books over the next few years.

The stark warning has followed the announcement that council tax in Oldham is set to rise by 3.5 per cent — 60p a week for Band A properties and up to 90p on Band D homes.

Councillor Abdul Jabbar, cabinet member for finance, said the authority had “done very well” to keep key services such as libraries and youth services in place while making cuts of £10 million over the last four years.

But, he warned: “With the scale and continuity of cuts, it is going to be difficult to continue to provide essential services.” He said further cuts of between £38 million and £40 million were “probable” over the next two years, and said the council had been “forced into a corner” over a 3.5 per cent council tax hike.

“I am not in favour of increasing council tax, we haven’t done that for the last three years, but we have been forced into this situation by the scale of cuts in the grant we get from central Government,” he said.