COUNCIL chiefs are on the verge of agreeing a compromises with the Charitiy Commission over the inclusion Lees Recreation Ground - gifted to the town more then 100 years ago - in its Northern Roots project aimed at providing Oldham with a green oasis.

The land at Snipe Clough was donated to the borough in 1911 by the Sarah Anne Lees family for educational purposes and in 1938 was assigned as a recreation ground for the municipal secondary school.

However, Oldham Council's charitable trust committee last year, the Northern Roots project team was granted permission to consult communities and stakeholders over including the ground into the proposed Northern Roots site.

And in March this year the team was given the go ahead to make such an application to the Charity Commission.

The application was declined, but the Commission came back with proposed new objectives for the site.

These were "To promote for the benefit of the inhabitants of the borough of Oldham and the surrounding area the provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity, disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances for the public at large in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving the condition of life of said inhabitants."

At yesterday's meeting (Wednesday, September 23) of the council's Charitable Trust Committee, members were told that broadening use of the land along the lines the Commission has proposed will enable the Northern Roots Project make better use of the site in allignment with the overall development of the area.

The land is held in trust and has a net book value of £7,100, but may be worth more if the scope of the conditions of its use are broadened in line with the latest recommendations.

Sarah Anne Lees became the first female mayor of Oldham on November 9, 1910, only the second woman in England to hold such a position. She was also the first woman councillor ever elected in Lancashire.