Cinema will ‘boost the image of town’

How the new Town Hall cinema will look.

A LOCAL Labour councillor has defended the £36.7 million project to transform Oldham’s old town hall into a cinema complex after UKIP’s by-election candidate said it should be scrapped if it’s not too late.

Speaking to the Evening Chronicle last week John Bickley — standing for UKIP in Oldham West and Royton — claimed the ongoing development, which is set to open next summer, is the wrong use for the building.

Mr Bickley claims the cinema industry is in decline and the jobs created by the complex will be low paid. He believes a tech hub would be a better use for the iconic building.

However, Alexandra ward councillor Zahid Chauhan said the project should not be shelved as it will create jobs and a more positive image of Oldham.

He pointed to neighbouring Bury for proof that leisure and tourism brings in business.

Councillor Chauhan is convinced that, alongside the regeneration of Mumps, it will turn it into a lively area where people will want to work, do business and spend money.

Councillor Chauhan said: “Coach excursions from across the UK now visit Bury, putting money into its local economy

“That is because the town had the foresight to regenerate and promote itself as a vibrant place to visit. For Bury, it began with a market, then a steam railway and eventually the Fusiliers Museum. Why shouldn’t we become a tourist hub, too?

Investment

“The area is now accessible from places like Manchester by Metrolink and having cinemas, cafes and places of heritage could turn it into a popular place to visit.”

Councillor Chauhan added that far from being in terminal decline, cinemas are springing up across the country.

As a representative for the United Kingdom on the European Union Committee of the Regions, he said he has seen how sometimes deprived areas have benefited from restoration and investment.

Councillor Chauhan said: “I want the tired image of Oldham as a rundown mill town consigned to history. Wouldn’t it be great instead to be celebrated as a blockbuster of a place where people want to spend their money and even more importantly, enjoy a fantastic quality of life. That whole process could begin with the transformation of our old town hall. As the adage says: Build it, and they will come.”

If UKIP’s Mr Bickley is elected as Oldham West and Royton’s MP on December 3 he could not scrap the plans as it is a council project, but he said he will he will look into the costs of getting Oldham out of it.

A UKIP spokesperson said: “What Oldham has is an amazing spirit but now we see a Labour council and a Labour councillor put £36 million in a town hall regeneration.

“They have obviously forgotten that is was they who let it rot for over 30 years. It wouldn’t need £36 million spent on it now if it was taken care of in the past.

“Oldham can not be thought of as a resting place for the mills of its industrial past. It does need jobs but most jobs created by the cinema project will be low paid and low wage.

“Oldham has a lot of these jobs, what it really needs is high skilled, high wage jobs and if the ambition of Labour is for Oldham to have many more low skill jobs that is not much ambition for such a great town.”

UKIP added that it is worried about the financial viability of the project.