Council leader hits back at explosive claims he used position to ‘orchestrate’ demise of market company

Rochdale council leader Neil Emmott has been accused of using his position to ‘orchestrate’ the demise of a company in order 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.

Councillor 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 in late October.
 

Read more: Middleton market now run by Rochdale CouncilPublished: 09 November 2022

But, at a meeting of Rochdale Council on Wednesday night (14 December) 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.

Councillor Bernard Wynne said: “He [Councillor Emmott] was aware of financial difficulties as far back as April 2021 and as recently as July 2022, and he knew his direct actions were putting the market company under financial threat.”

Councillor Wynne said his party had seen information suggesting Councillor Emmott had ‘used his position and influence within this council to orchestrate a series of events to bring about the failure of Middleton Town Centre Management Company, which owns Middleton Market Company, with the intention of taking the market into his control.’

The East Middleton councillor asked the leader if he had tried to appoint two new Labour councillors to the company’s board and made a series of demands including access to company records, trading information and bank mandates.

“They were told if the demands were not met the council would basically take over the running of the market, there are several questions there which I would like answering,” he added.

Councillor Wynne claimed the leader had been supported in his endeavours by the chair and vice chair of Middleton Township – both of whom were present at the meet but did not address the claims.

However, Councillor Emmott said Middleton Township – the committee of councillors that represents the town – had in 2021 voted to appoint two new directors to Middleton Town Centre Management Company.

Councillor Emmott continued: “Unfortunately the township management company did not want to accept the two new directors as appointed by Middleton Township, which has been the same [practice] for the last 14 years.”

The council leader said there were legal issues involved regarding people’s employment and he was reluctant to say anything further that could ‘impinge or influence’ anything in that respect.

But he added: “We do have some concerns about the governance of Middleton Town Centre Management Company and I think until all those issues come out I would advise Councillor Wynne to hold his fire and wait for those issues to come out.”

He also told the meeting that the council had been faced with two options in October.

“We could have either sat down, done nothing and allowed the market to close or we could have stepped in as a council to make sure the market continued.

“We chose the latter to make sure the market could continue in Middleton. I can tell you that the market traders are absolutely delighted with that decision and are now very happy to now be working under the aegis of Rochdale council in running that market.”

Councillor Wynne said he would be making a complaint to the council’s monitoring officer.

Rochdale council met at Number One Riverside on Wednesday night (December 14).

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter