Oldham Council has officially declared it is breaking the law after three months with no one in charge, and a meeting on August 20 could decide whether the government steps in.

The council's top legal boss, Alex Bougatef, issued a Section 5 Report last month saying the authority was acting unlawfully without a leader. The report sets in motion a process that could see commissioners, officials sent by the UK Government to run councils deemed to be failing or breaking the law, brought into Oldham at a cost of at least £1,200 a day.

The stalemate follows May's local elections, which left no party with a majority or even a third of seats in the council chamber. Because councillors are elected a third at a time, not every seat was up for election in 2026, and despite Reform gains no single group took control.

With officers continuing to use emergency powers to keep services running, all parties have blamed each other for the failure of talks, and controversies over past coalitions have also been a barrier to progress. Commissioners being imposed because of an unshifting political quarrel rather than bankruptcy is thought to be a first, though some parties believe intervention is unlikely with voters due to elect another third of councillors next May.

Reform leader Lewis Quigg said his group is prepared to table a motion that could lead to an entirely new set of councillors being elected, arguing that letting the people decide may be the only way forward. He said: "The talks were going around in a vicious circle. It was a Mexican standoff where three effective sides weren't prepared to go anywhere."

Oldham Group leader Kamran Ghafoor has proposed a rotational leadership model that would hand power between parties in proportion to their seats in the council chamber. He said: "There's too many personalities in Oldham Council and the leadership, myself included. People can't let go of what has happened in the past."

Liberal Democrat Mark Kenyon has suggested Diane Williamson, one of Oldham's longest serving members, take over temporarily, with key decisions considered cross-party. He said: "It's a bizarre and crazy way of running a council but it's preferable to having commissioners come in."

Out on the streets of Oldham town centre, many people are unaware of the situation unfolding. With day-to-day services largely running as normal, the public may not yet realise the impact of the stalemate, but officers are having to bring decisions before all party leaders to try to win consensus, and opportunities to bid for future investment could be missed.

Tony Fuller said: "I do not think it affects me. Life goes on." He said he has no real confidence in the overall direction of the town centre regeneration works, adding: "A lot of it is just cosmetic and I think the money could be better spent elsewhere. It might be nice to see an outside perspective on what is going on."

Ray Farrell said: "It's sad for the person on the street like myself. There's no clarity on anything." He said councillors have had plenty of time and intervention would help the borough move on, adding: "We have tried the devil we know. Maybe it's the devil we don't know that we need to go with."

Lynne Carrington from Chadderton said she voted for change at the elections in May. She said: "I have had the best of Oldham being a little girl. I have seen the worst. I think it's horrible how Oldham has gone. It was such a fantastic town."

Labour, the largest group on the council, said in a statement: "We are deeply worried that the council is not fulfilling its basic legal obligations on behalf of the people of Oldham. The longer this goes on the more the borough will slip and important decisions simply won't get made." The group, whose leader is councillor Arooj Shah, added that further inaction threatens council services and financial stability, and said every councillor must "put the borough before party interest".