Money for Diggle Clock Tower set to be withdrawn by Oldham Council

A SADDLEWORTH landmark faces having the £1 million it had allocated to restore it taken away and the money used for another scheme.

Money was allocated to make sure the iconic Diggle Clock Tower remained in place and may be reused, despite Saddleworth School and houses being built around it.

But Oldham Council documents confirm that is set to be taken away so a new market can be placed in George Square in the town centre.

That would mean the scheme for the tower would be left with nothing, a call that has been met with anger from local Councillors.

Saddleworth West and Lees Liberal Democrat Mark Kenyon said: “I’ve been trying to make this information public since a Labour Cabinet meeting in June took the decision in secret to take £1 million from a Saddleworth project – leaving it with nothing – to bail out an overspent project in Oldham’s town centre.

“The council spends a huge amount of money and people deserve to know how that money is going to be spent, rather than not be told at all or told after the money’s spent.

“Thanks to councillors from The Oldham Group, the Conservatives and Reform for helping me uncover this.

“Despite believing in different things, we all knew it was important that secret decisions aren’t good for the borough.”

Saddleworth North colleague Garth Harkness added: “When Saddleworth School moved to Diggle, we were assured that money was put aside to bring Diggle Clock Tower back into use.

“Last year, the council discussed options for its future – school community use, food and beverages and office use.

“Everyone thought these ideas were going to be explored further.

“As late as July, the council said they were committed to this project. Except they weren’t because in June they decided to take £1 million from this project to fund a project in Oldham town centre.

“Yet again Saddleworth is going to lose out because the council overspent on pet projects in Oldham town centre and want Saddleworth money to bail them out.

“Saddleworth exploited by Oldham Labour again. Another broken promise from this Labour/Independent coalition.”

The document for the cabinet, entitled Creating a Better Place Update and dated October 2025, spells out why the decision was made relating to the new market.

It states: “This project will ‘radically transform’ George Square, a small plot of communal space between Spindles Shopping Centre and the police station, progressing up to the edge of the Chambers Building.

“To enable the scheme to accommodate the required number of stalls and increase its connectivity with the bus station the scheme will require the demolition of the Three Crowns public house and additional public realm works.

“To ensure the scheme delivers a quality new outdoor market for both visitors and residents, where possible, further external funding for the scheme but this is not guaranteed and subject to suitable grant funding becoming available.”

And its recommendation to the cabinet is: “To support the scheme with a further investment of £2m of Council Capital Funding.

“Proposed approach is to transfer £1 million funding from the Diggle Clock Tower scheme (reducing the allocation to £0) and £1 million from unallocated funds within the Capital Programme.”

The grade II-listed building, which was originally office building for WH Shaw’s pallet works, dates from the 1860s.

However, the decline of the woollen trade after World War II led to the closure of the loom works in 1969, and the premises were subsequently converted to office use.

A 2022 Oldham Council document detailed the preferred option was: “Envelope Repair – A programme that would aim to introduce the provision of mains services into the building and refurbish the external fabric to meet modern design standards.

“Providing long term protection to the building interiors – allowing the building to be mothballed whilst an appropriate end use is identified. This will require the appointment of an appropriate design team to develop and manage the works.”

Remedial work – including repairing plasterwork, replacing windows and ensuring water tightness – was completed.

But three years later, what will happen to the structure remains in the air – and leaving it with no money is likely to spark a significant local reaction.