On Wednesday 17/12/2014 Councillors in Oldham overwhelmingly rejected a motion which called for their wages to be cut after UKIP Cllr Warren Bates obtained figures which show a 50% cut would save £225 thousand, the basic payment rate to Oldham Councillors is £9000 a year. Under Jim McMahon’s tenure as Oldham Council leader the average wage in Oldham has slipped from 16% below the national average to 20.2% below the national average.
Despite Oldham Council leader Jim McMahon’s defence of Oldham Council’s levels of debt at last nights Council meeting it remains a fact that between the three financial years 2014/15, 2015/16 & 2016/17 Oldham Council have entered agreements & borrowed over £152 million in prudential government loans for this three year period leaving Oldham tax-payers with decades of debt repayments. None of Oldham Council’s regeneration schemes have had any investment contributions from private companies nor developers who clearly will not invest in construction & infrastructure schemes in Oldham Town Centre because of the levels of crime, low pay, supplementary benefit payments, poor qualification attainment & high poverty levels. Current schemes such as The Old Town Hall Cinema & Prince’s Gate will potentially see high street brands taking up residency as tenants in bespoke units developed & funded by Oldham Council & in the case of the Odeon Cinema the Council has also offered to underwrite any operational losses.