Town hall CEO offered to bail out scandal-hit council despite fears Oldham will ‘suffer’

Oldham council has agreed plans for their CEO to take the reins at crisis-ridden Tameside Council.

After a heated and prolonged debate in the chambers yesterday (Thursday), the proposal for Chief Executive Harry Catherall to ‘timeshare’ between both councils was approved. 

The extraordinary council meeting was called to scrutinise a new working arrangement, which would see Catherall employed by Tameside four days a week and maintaining his role for one day a week in Oldham.

The proposal also put forward Shelley Kipling, currently Assistant CEO as the acting exec for the council for the next six months. 

Catherall was headhunted by the Tameside Council and GMCA following a slew of resignations in light of a damning report to the government about the state of Tameside’s children’s services.

The Oldham CEO is known for having overseen the improvement of Oldham’s children’s services, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted earlier this year after being told it ‘required improvement’ during an earlier inspection. 

Labour councillor Josh Charters added that Tameside is ‘in hot water’ and Oldham was ‘simply sending the best possible person to fix that’. 

Oldham Authority boss Arooj Shah also noted a leaders’ meeting on Monday, October 21, which took place behind closed doors with bosses of all the political groups, had already come to an ‘agreement’ on the change in appointments. 

Five amendments were put forward to the proposal, which meant the council went through six votes before the decision was made.

Some raised concerns about the impact the one-day arrangement would have on the stability of the council leadership, with councillor David Arnott likening the move to if ‘Pep Guardiola managed Manchester City one day a week and for the other four managed Manchester United’. 

Others suggested Catherall should leave completely without ‘keeping one foot in Oldham’ and allow Shelley Kipling to step in as a full-time executive, to conclude Oldham’s three-year search for a successor to the current chief executive. 

Kamran Ghafoor of the Oldham Group said: “Any organisation without a full time leader will suffer.

"Let it be on your conscience what happens to the people of Oldham.

"We’re haemorrhaging money and nobody cares.

"We need a leader in place to run this council.” 

Councillors from the independent Oldham Group also requested the ‘timely recruitment of a permanent successor Chief Executive’.

All five amendments were voted out of the chambers, while the original proposal was passed by a vote of 34 for to13 against and nine abstentions. 

Tameside is due to confirm the arrangements on Tuesday, October 29.

If approved, Mr Catherall would be located in Tameside for the majority of the week, but would remain contactable ‘24/7’ for issues in Oldham, according to a council report. 

The officer, who has worked in local government for 40 years, will be taking over from Tameside Council Director of Resources, Ashley Hughes, who stepped in as a stop-gap CEO after the resignation of Sandra Stewart. 

Once confirmed, Tameside will cover Catherall’s full four-day salary cost at £168k, with Oldham footing the bill for the one day a week he remains with the local authority.

Meanwhile, the new CEO Shelley Kipling will receive a wage of £169,125, but with no plans at present to backfill her position as assistant chief, the reshuffle will save between £75k and £123k, according to the council’s assistant finance director Lee Walsh.

Tonight, Tameside has already voted in Labour councillor Eleanor Willis to replace Coun Ged Cooney, who also resigned earlier this month.

Speaking to her chamber in Tameside, she said: “Our first and highest priority is absolutely our children’s services.

"Not for the sake of an Ofsted grade, but for a much more fundamental reason to ensure that we never again fail those who most need our support.”

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