Oldham council’s leader-elect has vowed to prove she is on residents’ side after Labour lost five seats -including her former boss - at the local elections. Councillor Amanda Chadderton - deputy to the deposed Arooj Shah over the last 12 months - was voted in as her group’s new leader on Monday night. Her position as new council leader will be ratified at the authority’s annual meeting later this month.
But while the 35-year-old describes the opportunity to lead her home town as the ‘honour of my life’ she is under no illusions it will also be her biggest challenge. Labour remains by far the largest group on the council, but it has now lost two leaders in successive elections. And a net loss of five seats at last week’s poll suggests change could be in the air at next year’s ‘all out’ local elections, where all 60 seats will be up for grabs.
“It’s been a difficult two years for the Labour group in Oldham,” admits Coun Chadderton. “When Arooj came in as leader last year she was quite clear about residents feeling the council had moved away from them and wasn’t focusing on issues that mattered to them.”
