An agreement by Councillors on the Labour-controlled Greater Manchester Combined Authority that staff from the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) office be relocated from Oldham to Manchester City Centre has been branded ‘a waste of public money and bad news for Oldham’, by the Leader of the Opposition, Liberal Democrat Councillor Howard Sykes MBE.

Greater Manchester Waste Authority staff will be moved from Metropolitan House in Oldham Town Centre to Churchgate House in Manchester City Centre.

Councillor Sykes said: “Financially this is madness.  Rental costs at Metropolitan House are £5 per square foot and those at Churchgate House are £16.50 so just to provide accommodation to these staff will cost over three times what it does in Oldham, and that does not include the actual cost of the move itself and other costs.”

Cllr Sykes has other more fundamental objections to the move in addition to just cost.

“In recent years Inland Revenue and Court Service staff have moved away from Oldham.  The Council rightly objected.  Now we are doing exactly the same when it is in our control and we will lose out yet again when the staff of the Waste Authority move out of Town.  Some 10 – 20 high quality jobs have been exported from Oldham to Manchester.  They will now be spending their earnings in Manchester’s economy, and not ours in the near future.”

“Devolution should not only be about devolving power, services and money from Whitehall to Greater Manchester (GM); it should also be about divesting services out from Manchester City Centre to the other Boroughs in GM.”

“One of my worries has always been that Manchester will seek to control and centralise everything and as a result keep most of the benefits that devolution brings.”

“We want our share too and this should include retaining our fair share of public sector jobs.  In fact some of those GM Combined Authority jobs based in Manchester City Centre should be moved out into places like Oldham, Rochdale and Ashton.  That would save money in operating costs and give a real boost to the regeneration of those local economies.”

“The Waste Authority team have done a good job working from their desks in Oldham – I see no reason why they should not continue to do so.”

“What has been agreed makes no financial sense and certainly makes no sense to Oldham and I fail to understand why Labour have agreed to it!”