Waste centre threat

Oldhamers will find out in March whether they are to lose any of their household waste and recycling centres.

Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority is considering closing some centres in a bid to save £1m from its annual budget.

Oldham has two within the borough — at Arkwright Street and Chandos Street, Shaw, as well as access to a third just over the border in Reliance Street, Newton Heath.

A GMWDA report says that “savings are possible, though they would impact upon the proximity of access for some of our residents.

“Given the tough decisions that are having to be made by constituent districts to stay within the means provided in the provisional settlement, this clearly does need to be an area in which serious consideration is given.”

Officials are working on “potential means of progressing rationalisation, while seeking to minimise the inconvenience to the public by seeking to map the distances that need to be travelled.”

At a meeting of the Association of Greater Manchester Councils in Oldham, council leader Howard Sykes asked GMWDA chairman Neil Swannick if his body had decided which sites to close.

Councillor Swannick replied: “The decision was to go away and do further work.

“A decision about the sites has not been made but it will be on March 18.”