Oldham Council very good at complaining about government budget cuts and not very good at managing diminishing finances, here are just a few of the things they spent money on in March. Architect, property management and project management fees for Oldham Council’s £40 million town hall cinema that financial black hole which was supposed to cost the borough £10 million cost an additional £13,480 in March some 18 months since the development first opened, security services cost an additional £5,175. Oldham Council also spent £23,770 with real estate consultants in March relating to its town centre “Masterplan” which doesn’t even start a procurement exercise to secure a delivery partner until the summer. We can keep the theme of the Council’s ludicrous spending going with the £10,000 they spent with Illuminos for projecting videos onto the old town hall as part of the Council’s Illuminate show in February which was for one evening. £12,000 spent on document collaboration software, £8,780 spent on new electoral register software, £5,895 on tree mapping software. £3,960 spent with COOP brand ltd this is a Devon based coop brand marketer hired to promote Oldham Council’s coop identity and was paid £68,671 by Oldham Council in 2017 and 2018 is on target for a similar figure. £104,500 on essential maintenance work at the civic centre this comes after the £57,259 they spent in February. Oldham Council’s monthly spending records can be downloaded here
Conservative Oldham Councillor John Hudson put it to Council leader Jean Stretton on Wednesday 28/03/2018 that the Council should have their spending scrutinised by the main opposition party as happens in other areas instead of by Labour Oldham, she of course refused and it is quite easy to see why.