Oldham Council should have responded to my freedom of information request within 20 working days with the information requested or refused my application for information. My request was about the costs of abandoned versions of Prince’s Gate and the new Coliseum. It’s now been 26 working days, they have managed to delay their legally required compliance in providing the information by asking a question which resets the clock and means they don’t need to respond until 30th December. The ludicrous question they asked was for me to clarify what I mean by “loans” if they really need me to clarify the term then the person involved needs to be moved to the making the tea only department. This, in my opinion, is a deliberate attempt to withhold the information until after the general election because it reflects on Labour Oldham MP Jim McMahon and his terrible record of public financed regeneration failures. It’s also completely illegal for Oldham Labour Council to attempt to influence elections once an election date has been declared, I shall be contacting the electoral commission.
