Stalemate at Oldham Council

Today (20 May), should have been the Annual Meeting of Oldham Council. The meeting is a legal requirement in which a number of important positions are up for nomination and election.

The first post that was due to be filled was that of mayor, a position in Oldham that has, since 1974 been the un-opposed deputy mayor from the previous year. In this case that was Councillor Brian Hobin from Failsworth.

In today’s meeting an unusual occurrence took place with that tradition being challenged as two amendments were proposed which nominated other councillors and a third nominating Councillor Hobin.

Reform UK chose to nominate Councillor Andrew Brooks, new councillor for Failsworth East; the Oldham Group with the Liberal Democrats nominated Conservative Councillor, Max Woodvine; and the Labour Group nominated Brian Hobin.

None of the nominated councillors received enough votes to reach a majority decision and because the appointment of a mayor is a legal requirement, the meeting was adjourned after only thirty-five minutes.

The adjournment was to give the parties time to take the opportunity to talk to each other and for over four hours the council chamber remained empty.

At a little after 4.30pm the council chamber began to fill up and the present mayor, Eddie Moores returned to say that because there had been no agreement, the meeting was now ended and would be rescheduled.

When for? We don’t know but speculation from councillors leaving the chamber was for early June.

The only good news is that Oldham has a dedicated workforce who will continue to deliver our services. Politically though, if things don’t begin to improve we may be looking at central government intervention in Oldham’s governance.