Labour’s spineless Oldham automaton councillors voted unanimously this week to build houses on a sports pitch in South Chadderton. The new estate will lead directly off Coalshaw Green Rd which already has traffic calming in place because of traffic volumes and dangerous driving. To add insult to injury Oldham Council has now set up an extra green dividend fund solely for St Mary’s, Hathershaw, Waterhead, Hollinwood, Primrose Bank, Coldhurst, Alexandra and Oldham Edge to promote healthy initiatives. The majority of these areas are the usual suspects with disproportionate benefit claims, high birth rates, huge numbers of foreign migrants, high levels of disability claims, unemployment and worklessness, fly-tipping hotspots and the centre’s for crime and intervention initiatives. Jean Stretton, who has no discernible unique policies, is clearly little more than a puppet following the whims and administration priorities of Jim McMahon who retains his council seat alongside being MP so he can control council policy from the shadows. Green dividend Oldham had seven green flag parks when McMahon became council leader it now has two. While spending many tens if not hundreds of millions that will never be recouped McMahon blamed government cuts to council budgets for the loss of Oldham’s green flag parks. Yet much like his accounting and projection models his words never rang true because rather than saving money both he and the current council leader have redirected savings from parks into a myriad improvement schemes that benefit the town centre wards and parks such as both sponsoring and entering Oldham in bloom (no conflict of interest sponsoring and winning your own trophy), veg in the park, green dividend, Alexandra Park. It is about time Labour Oldham showed a modicum of honesty and published actual statistical figures showing just what percentage of homes in each Oldham ward pay more in income based taxes than they receive in tax credits and other benefits. With the fourth highest council tax charge in the UK they should also publish how much public money is spent in each Oldham ward and what it is spent on.
