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# Oldham Council agrees interim measure to reduce legal risk
- URL: https://www.oldham-owl.co.uk/oldham-council-agrees-interim-measure-to-reduce-legal-risk/
- Published: 2026-09-17T08:40:51.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-17T08:48:30.000Z
- Description: The longer version of the story of last night's meeting is an epic, but let's focus on the consequentials for now
- Author: Will Holdaway
- Tags: News

Oldham Council last night came to an agreement that allows the council to reduce the legal risks of not electing a council leader. The agreement means that councillors from Labour, Reform, the Oldham Group and the Lib Dems will take cabinet posts for oversight purposes, but without the power to direct the council executive.

At the beginning of the meeting, chief executive Shelley Kipling went into the detail of the agreement and how it came about. She said that she and her team formulated the plan in consultation with the UK Government Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide further protections for the normal running of council services and fulfilment of functions. She is currently operating under delegated powers in the absence of a council leader and cabinet.

Under the deal, the cabinet members from the sponsoring parties (Labour, Reform, Oldham Group and Lib Dems) will draw an allowance even though they have no executive power. Ms Kipling stated that they will still have to learn their briefs and deal with external organisations on behalf of the council, such as Ofsted.

Last night's meeting did not go as planned. Councillor Mark Wilkinson, the new leader of the Reform group after the resignation earlier in the week of Councillor Lewis Quigg, was the first to go off-script, telling the assembled councillors that his party would abstain in the vote. He had previously said that his party would vote in favour.

At that point, the remaining willing parties (Labour, the Oldham group and the Lib Dems) still had more than enough votes to carry the motion, but instead opted to adjourn to discuss Cllr Wilkinson's announcement behind closed doors.

The backstage discussions lasted almost an hour, after which Reform councillors voted for the agreement, as they had previously undertaken to do.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/6a/6d6a162d-10f3-4a84-b962-39d5e3f56145/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-17-at-09.35.57.png)

Sapere aude (dare to know): Mayor Pam Byrne and chief executive Shelley Kipling

Later in the meeting, councillors approved five consecutive motions unanimously in a rare outbreak of accord. After the fifth consecutive vote to nil, Mayor Pam Byrne joked that the electronic voting hardware might be suspect. "Everyone's button's stuck," she said.