A SADDLEWORTH councillor is proposing a plan he feels can finally break the deadlock over who will lead Oldham Council.
Put simply, every party will.
Those serving on the borough authority will try again on Thursday, August 20 to decide who will head it after three attempts.
Failure to do so will see Government commissioners called in, effectively taking responsibility over councillors’ heads.
But Saddleworth West and Lees’ Mark Kenyon hopes his proposal can prevent that move, potentially saving taxpayers millions of pounds and putting every councillor at the heart of running the borough.
His “Concord Council” would see executive power shared across all political groups and councillors.
The ‘deliberately temporary’ scheme would remain until a stable administration can be formed, or until after the 2027 local elections.
Under it, Councillor Diane Williamson will be nominated as leader, while ideas to break the stalemate include a lottery to allocate cabinet positions.
That would prevent the leader using appointments to put pressure on councillors to conform.
Key decisions would then be considered by cross-party committees, with every political group represented and voting strength reflecting the number of councillors they have elected.
Councillor Kenyon said: “There are parts of the plan that are sure to startle some people, but the idea of a lottery is not a million miles away from flipping a coin to resolve dead heats in elections for MPs and councillors.
“At its heart, though, this is about putting power in the hands of all 60 councillors rather than forcing them to pick one Leader and one political group to have it all.
“This way we’ll have to work together.
“It’s better for everyone to put our differences aside and focus on what we do agree on and what we can achieve together.
“We can turn this stalemate into a strength, giving every councillor a voice and putting the good people who live and work in our borough ahead of party politics.”
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