Members of Oldham’s opposition groups are calling for a more wide-ranging review into historic Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) following the fractious extraordinary council meeting earlier this week.

The turbulent meeting on Monday saw Oldham Council leader Amanda Chadderton, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Chief Superintendent for Oldham Chris Bowen, and director of children's services at Oldham Council Gerard Jones face criticism from opposition councillors and members of the public on the scope of the CSE review.

The review headed by children's services expert Malcolm Newsam and ex-detective superintendent Gary Ridgway found serious shortcomings in the handling of some cases of CSE in Oldham, in particular, one victim, 'Sophie', but no evidence to suggest a cover-up by the authorities or by councillors.

In a bleak assessment, Royton North Conservative councillor Dave Arnott, deemed the review, which only provided information on one of the 11 cases under review, “too narrow”.

He said: “This report poses more questions than it answers. The terms of reference were far too narrow and formulated by the very organisations it was tasked to investigate, but even with these flaws already built into the process before its publication, the review when it was eventually released is deeply concerning in the issues that it doesn’t raise and the questions that it doesn’t answer.”

Cllr Arnott has called for a “fully independent public inquiry” and said the Oldham community deserve to know why the investigation only interviewed one victim.

Striking a similarly tough tone to Cllr Arnott, Liberal Democrat spokesperson Cllr Sam Al-Hamdani has called the review an “absolute failure” and accused GMP of refusing to provide information on the review.

He said: “Given that GMP already in special measures, a judicial review is possibly the only course left open to investigate the police force and the failure of the Mayor to ensure it provided evidence to the enquiry.”

Failsworth Independent Party group leader Cllr Brian Hobin has also joined calls for a further review into CSE in Oldham.

He said: “It is our view, as it has been from the very start, that nothing short of a full independent criminal investigation into what has happened regarding CSE in Oldham borough will suffice.

“Rather than empty apologies and promises of ‘lessons learned’, we want prosecutions of the perpetrators. We also want those who facilitated what happened or turned a blind eye and allowed it to continue for whatever reason, brought to account.”

The calls come after Cllr Chadderton said the council will not be asking the government for a further review during Monday’s meeting.

Addressing the chamber, she said: “The report does not allege any misconduct in public office by council staff, however we will of course work with Greater Manchester Police who are looking at these crimes again, so should any misconduct be uncovered during that process we will of course take action against anyone found to commit misconduct.

“The two people that carried out this report were independent experts. Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway are often employed by this government to intervene in councils, such as they were in Rotherham.

“While there were failings, and we completely accept the findings of the report, there was no cover up.

“We asked for an independent review by national experts, and we’ve got one. The Home Office and other agencies are aware of this review. If the government wants to do anything then that is up to them but we will not be calling for another review into the council.”

An adjournment debate into CSE in Oldham was scheduled to take place in parliament yesterday.