Being a local councillor used to be a job you did out of civic duty -to serve your local community without any thought of financial reward - only 'out of pocket' expenses.

 Saddleworth is full of marvellous people like our Mountain Rescue Teams who give their time and energy freely to serve the local community. Councillors should do the same.

 Cut councillors allowances in half  

I believe it was a mistake to start paying our local councillors allowances like a wage.   In the next financial year Oldham's 60 councillors will receive £950,000, almost £1 MILLION . That's an average of over £15,500 per councillor.  

Councillors have been turned into council employees instead of representatives of the local community   Cutting councillors average expenses by half will still leave them over £7,000 a year. I think that's very generous and more than enough to cover the cost of being a local councillor. And it will mean £500,000 more to spend on front line council services.  

I will put my money where my mouth is and only accept HALF the average councillors allowance if I am elected.