Assesses Oldham’s planned Strategic Service Delivery Partnership and shows that the project falls well short of the targets and claims made for community cohesion, regeneration and job creation. Oldham Council is proposing a £170m – £260m ten-year Strategic Service Delivery Partnership contract which will transfer property, highways, information and communication technology, customer and exchequer services to a Joint Venture Company (JVC) formed with a group of private contractors. The Council proposes to transfer, rather than second, about 350 council staff to the JVC. A potential second phase of the project would include the transfer of human resources, payroll, financial services and administration to the JVC.