Council slammed for ‘disrespecting working people’

Oldham Council has been slammed for ‘disrespecting working people’ after organising a six-hour council meeting that starts during the working day.

The local authority has decided to hold the rest of an adjourned full council meeting on the same day as another meeting in the town hall, on Wednesday, November 12. The meeting will start at 4.30pm, with the second meeting scheduled for 6pm. 

With full council meetings generally lasting around four hours, this could see councillors and members of the public strapping in for a six-hour sitting. 

Councillor Howard Sykes criticised the decision, saying: “I cannot believe the Council have taken so long to get on with the business of this meeting.  There has been no urgency whatsoever.  The proposed start time of the new meeting is 4.30pm, which is no good for working councillors but that will suit some people.  

“This whole process has been a complete shambles. Assuming we finish the reconvened meeting by 6pm with then have our usual November meeting starting at 6pm and planned to end no sooner than 9.30pm, what a sorry state of affairs.” 

The last meeting was adjourned after councillor Kamran Ghafoor was accused of using an ‘extremely offensive and sexually degrading’ South Asian curse word towards the council leader, an allegation he denies.

An Oldham council spokesperson said: “To decide upon a date to reconvene September’s council meeting, group leaders were asked to reach a consensus on the best working date. Having reviewed the responses, the week before November Council meeting was the earliest date suitable.

“The Mayor therefore decided it would be more cost effective to have the meeting on the same day as the next council meeting, so that security and filming expenses would not have to be paid for on a separate date.”

Councillor Elaine Taylor, Oldham Council’s Deputy Leader, added: “It beggars belief that coun Sykes’ first instinct is to send out a press release attacking the administration but he has nothing to say about the horrific behaviour of those who are responsible for the meeting being adjourned in the first place, namely the man he tried to install as Leader in May.”