The Leader of the Oldham Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has just received a response to his letter asking for clarification of the final cost to ratepayers from the acquisition by the Council of Oldham’s two main shopping centres.

As well as purchasing the property, the Council had also to buy out a lease on the former Top Man unit. The initial sale price was £9.5 million, but with the extra cost of purchasing the Top Man lease, and with fees and stamp duty, the final bill amounts to £10,616,000.

Councillor Sykes has also received reassurance from the Director of Economy at Oldham Council, Emma Barton, that there are no further outstanding costs to meet and no further leaseholds to buy out.

Commenting, Councillor Sykes said:  “Of course, we will see significant additional costs incurred in repurposing and reconfiguring these two shopping centres, particularly relocating the market traders and creating a new Council hub.  Labour’s new plans for Spindles and Town Square have just been unveiled and as Liberal Democrats we will be asking some searching questions about them as we are far from convinced, they are thought though.”

Response to Cllr Sykes FOI request from 28 June  

Good afternoon Councillor,

Requested information under FOI (Ref: 16149) –

There are no outstanding costs for the Council to meet in relation to the purchase of the two shopping centres and the Top Man lease, and there are no other leaseholds within the complex.