Rochdale council leader Neil Emmott has hit back at claims he used his position to 'orchestrate' the demise of a company to take Middleton market under the authority's control.
The council took over the running of the site from the beginning of November after previous operator Middleton Town Centre Management Company handed staff and traders redundancy notices over the final weekend of October.
Coun Emmott told a full council meeting that the council’s ‘prompt action’ had saved the market after members had become aware of its imminent closure on October 28 and 29. But, at a meeting of Rochdale council on Wednesday night (December 14), Middleton Independents Party claimed this was ‘untrue’ - and they had ‘significant concern’ over a series of events that led up to the failure of the market.
