Councillors clash over £5,000 pay-outs

Warren Bates

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COUNCILLORS will get a £2,000 increase in the money they receive to give to worthy causes and projects in their wards.

This year the 60 councillors will each have a £5,000 fund, up from £3,000. The money has to be spent within the ward and is allocated at monthly district executive meetings.

Reaction has been mixed: some have welcomed the money, while others believed it might have been better spent elsewhere.

UKIP councillor Warren Bates, who represents Failsworth West, said: “Many frontline jobs could have been saved if this money was put to proper use in my opinion.”

Liberal Democrat leader Howard Sykes, who represents Shaw ward, said: “I am all in favour of spend being determined by local ward councillors. This so-called increase only takes it back to what it was before it was cut. Small amounts of cash spent locally can make a real difference to little problems important to local residents.”

To see how individual councillors spent their budget last year, see www.oldham.gov.uk