Having learned nothing from their failed ‘Our House’ scheme Oldham Council allocates another £274,000 of taxpayers money to prop up another of its failing social enterprises. The Oldham Community Power project “Oldham Community Power is a community initiative whose aim is to generate electricity from renewable sources based on Council owned and community buildings. You can become a member for as little as £100 with up to 4% return.” The scheme needed to raise around £300,000 for phase 1 but managed to raise just £20,000 from the general public. Oldham Council will now underwrite the debt under the belief that two local community partners will then invest £100,000 each. These partners are Big Local Oldham which to our knowledge is a community project in Clarksfield funded by lottery grants and Action Together formerly VA Oldham which receive five figure grants from central and local government. Having the highest birth rate the highest migrant percentage increase the highest average tax credit award and the lowest average pay in Greater Manchester makes the Oldham public ideal investors in the eyes of the business geniuses at Oldham Council and their co-op partners. So once again we have the vast majority of funding for an Oldham Council pushed scheme coming directly and indirectly from the public purse. Once again we ask where are the big business investors why not get the Odeon to chip-in oh that’s right you also offered to underwrite any loses the cinema makes so what about M&S, who will receive £9 million from the Prince’s Gate developers (OMBC) to ‘kit out’ their bespoke superstore?
