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| Northamptonshire announces 'heavily reduced' libraries plan – on World Book Day | Northamptonshire announces 'heavily reduced' libraries plan – on World Book Day |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| Brackley Library, according to its website, is “a welcoming community hub offering regular events and activities for all ages”. But swingeing cuts at Northamptonshire county council mean that it, along with 21 other libraries in the region, will now only be open one day a week, for eight hours – an announcement made on World Book Day, and effective immediately. | Brackley Library, according to its website, is “a welcoming community hub offering regular events and activities for all ages”. But swingeing cuts at Northamptonshire county council mean that it, along with 21 other libraries in the region, will now only be open one day a week, for eight hours – an announcement made on World Book Day, and effective immediately. |
| This drastic cutback comes on top of the crisis-ridden council’s decision, announced earlier this week, to close 21 libraries – not the same 21 – across the county, with eight large branches retained. The move was made following a consultation with locals, and follows protests and petitions from thousands of residents, and authors including local Alan Moore and Philip Pullman. | This drastic cutback comes on top of the crisis-ridden council’s decision, announced earlier this week, to close 21 libraries – not the same 21 – across the county, with eight large branches retained. The move was made following a consultation with locals, and follows protests and petitions from thousands of residents, and authors including local Alan Moore and Philip Pullman. |
| One staff member was in tears ... I thought they were joking originally and had to be told three times it was true | One staff member was in tears ... I thought they were joking originally and had to be told three times it was true |
| Just in time for the UK’s annual celebration of reading, World Book Day – and also timed with a WBD survey that revealed more than half of children at key stage 2 are not being read to at home – the cash-strapped council implemented what it called “heavily reduced” timetables in the 21 libraries. It blamed the move on the section 114 spending controls introduced earlier this month; the controls restrict “expenditure on recruitment, temporary staff or existing staff working overtime”, and mean the libraries have had to remove temporary staff and additional hours from their staffing allocation, having “a direct and immediate impact on the ability to keep libraries open”. | Just in time for the UK’s annual celebration of reading, World Book Day – and also timed with a WBD survey that revealed more than half of children at key stage 2 are not being read to at home – the cash-strapped council implemented what it called “heavily reduced” timetables in the 21 libraries. It blamed the move on the section 114 spending controls introduced earlier this month; the controls restrict “expenditure on recruitment, temporary staff or existing staff working overtime”, and mean the libraries have had to remove temporary staff and additional hours from their staffing allocation, having “a direct and immediate impact on the ability to keep libraries open”. |
| “I came into Brackley Library at about 3:40pm yesterday to see the staff standing around the desk speechless. One staff member had been preparing children’s crafts for World Book Day and was in tears. They had just been told that the library was to close every day apart from Tuesdays with immediate effect. I was the first person to find out after the staff. I thought they were joking originally and had to be told three times it was true,” said local Andrew Lowe. | “I came into Brackley Library at about 3:40pm yesterday to see the staff standing around the desk speechless. One staff member had been preparing children’s crafts for World Book Day and was in tears. They had just been told that the library was to close every day apart from Tuesdays with immediate effect. I was the first person to find out after the staff. I thought they were joking originally and had to be told three times it was true,” said local Andrew Lowe. |
| “Our library is one of the 15 that was, in theory, saved from cuts yesterday. Within hours of that news staff were told, with no warning, that Brackley Library is now only open one day a week,” said Louise Stubbs, part of the Save Brackley Library campaign which will be protesting outside the closed branch at 3.30pm on Thursday, along with children in their World Book Day costumes. “Today is World Book Day, the library is closed, the food bank that would normally be open today in the library has had to scramble to find somewhere else.” | “Our library is one of the 15 that was, in theory, saved from cuts yesterday. Within hours of that news staff were told, with no warning, that Brackley Library is now only open one day a week,” said Louise Stubbs, part of the Save Brackley Library campaign which will be protesting outside the closed branch at 3.30pm on Thursday, along with children in their World Book Day costumes. “Today is World Book Day, the library is closed, the food bank that would normally be open today in the library has had to scramble to find somewhere else.” |
| The cuts are part of wider problems at the Tory county council, which is facing “severe and unprecedented” financial challenges following what it said were years of cuts from central government. | The cuts are part of wider problems at the Tory county council, which is facing “severe and unprecedented” financial challenges following what it said were years of cuts from central government. |
| County council cabinet member for public health and wellbeing Cllr Sylvia Hughes said that the council had “heard loud and clear what residents across the county told us during the 12-week consultation”, but that its auditors KPMG had told it that its proposed 2018/19 budget was “not achievable”. The council agreed to pass the new recommendations on Wednesday. | County council cabinet member for public health and wellbeing Cllr Sylvia Hughes said that the council had “heard loud and clear what residents across the county told us during the 12-week consultation”, but that its auditors KPMG had told it that its proposed 2018/19 budget was “not achievable”. The council agreed to pass the new recommendations on Wednesday. |
| Stubbs said that the fight to save Northamptonshire’s libraries would continue. Libraries body Cilip threw its weight behind residents and called for the cuts to be halted, pending an urgent national enquiry into the situation in Northamptonshire. The “very significant cuts”, said chief executive Nick Poole, would result in a library service “that can in no way be seen to be ‘comprehensive and efficient’, as required by the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act”. | Stubbs said that the fight to save Northamptonshire’s libraries would continue. Libraries body Cilip threw its weight behind residents and called for the cuts to be halted, pending an urgent national enquiry into the situation in Northamptonshire. The “very significant cuts”, said chief executive Nick Poole, would result in a library service “that can in no way be seen to be ‘comprehensive and efficient’, as required by the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act”. |
| “This World Book Day it is simply staggering that the residents of Northamptonshire are facing unprecedented cuts to their libraries and a county council with a very uncertain future,” said Poole. “Once you lose a library, it is extremely hard to get it back and the economic impact on communities reverberates through generations.” | “This World Book Day it is simply staggering that the residents of Northamptonshire are facing unprecedented cuts to their libraries and a county council with a very uncertain future,” said Poole. “Once you lose a library, it is extremely hard to get it back and the economic impact on communities reverberates through generations.” |
| “There’s a big question over whether keeping a library open, but for only seven hours a week, is legal under statutory duty to libraries and we’re looking into that,” added Stubbs. “Northamptonshire county council is in a shambles and no library is safe.” | “There’s a big question over whether keeping a library open, but for only seven hours a week, is legal under statutory duty to libraries and we’re looking into that,” added Stubbs. “Northamptonshire county council is in a shambles and no library is safe.” |
| After confirming the new opening hours on Thursday, a council spokesman issued a new statement on Friday, announcing that it “will aim to ensure every library in the county can open at least three days a week”, though this would be dependent on the availability of temporary staff. | |
| “We will make sure individual libraries communicate their revised opening hours with customers and they will be published on our website as soon as possible. Due to the ongoing financial pressures this county is facing, this matter will be subject to ongoing review,” the spokesman added. “It is important to note this is an entirely separate matter to the decision about the future of the library service taken as part of the approval of the final budget for 2018/19 at this week’s full council meeting. These longer term changes will come into effect in the next financial year.” | |
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