Slamming door to books ‘will rip heart out of communities’
BUREAUCRATS were slated yesterday for planning to close 25 of a county’s libraries while splashing out £34million on buying commercial properties as investments.
Budget-cutting Essex County Council has come under fire from campaigners supporting the Daily Express’s Save Our Libraries crusade after revealing plans for some of the most severe public library closures yet.
Council chiefs claim the libraries set for the axe are not needed, or there is not enough demand to justify keeping them.
As well as the 25 sites earmarked for closure, the authority plans to reduce the services at another 19 branches.
But furious campaigners and politicians last night warned that the cuts will “rip the hearts” out of local communities.
They questioned the wisdom of the council spending £34million buying commercial properties – outside the county – during the past 16 months.
The properties – an office block in Watford, a retail park in Keighley, Yorkshire, and an industrial park in Guildford – have reportedly so far earned the authority a £1million net income.
Tim Roberts, Unison union eastern
‘The council is telling our children their futures don’t matter’
regional manager, said: “Essex County Council is threatening to rip the heart out of our communities.
“If the only thing libraries did was make knowledge available to all, then these closures would be an act of cultural vandalism.
“But the fact is they do so much more, from children’s story times to helping elderly and vulnerable people connect with the world around them.
“And we can’t run a high-quality and accountable library service on goodwill alone.
“If we want our kids to fall in love with reading, we need properly trained, properly paid staff to guide them through the process in properly resourced libraries.
“Instead, the council is telling our children that their futures don’t matter.”
Robert Halfon, Tory MP for Harlow, Essex, who supports the Daily Express’s crusade, branded the proposed closures “shortsighted” and “inane”.
Last night, a spokeswoman for Essex County Council said its commercial property strategy was not linked to services such as libraries.
She said: “We continue to explore opportunities to develop sustainable income streams to help fund ongoing and new services. If we can
secure alternative sources of income then we will be financially more sustainable. One way of doing this is investment in the property fund to generate additional income which can then be invested in our frontline services.
“This investment earns us an average of 5.7 per cent return or £1million additional income per year.
The investment programme is kept under constant review to ensure we are investing Essex taxpayers’ funds wisely.”
A 12-week consultation looking into the closure of the 25 libraries is running until February.
Libraries at high risk include Stansted, Holland-on-Sea, Prettygate, Sible Hedingham and Hatfield
Peverel. Another 19 are at risk if they can’t be run by the community or other partners with council support.
There has been anger at the planned closures, with calls for the council to rethink its strategy.
In July 2017, the council’s cabinet approved plans to create a £50million property investment fund. The Daily Express’s crusade, backed by politicians and celebrities including television presenter Katie Piper, comes as the number of public libraries continues to plummet amid budget cuts.
The amount spent on them has fallen by nearly £300million in under a decade – from more than £1billion to about £720million.
As a result, some 737 libraries have disappeared from our cities, towns and villages in the past eight years.
The total remaining is now thought to be 3,745 across the entire nation – down from 4,482 in 2010.
In addition, more than 550 have also been made volunteer-only over the same period.
Many more stand under threat, with experts warning of a “library extinction” in the future.
Of those that remain, many have also been “hollowed out” – with skeleton or less knowledgeable volunteer staff on duty, reduced opening hours and fewer books being bought. Campaigners say it is an “unfolding national tragedy”.
OPINION:
LIBRARIES have helped educate generations of people, a source of knowledge and wonder for many. So it is a dereliction of duty that in Essex 25 libraries face closure and 19 others are to be cut back to save a mere £2million, while at the same time the county council is spending £34million on buying up commercial properties.
It is time for councils around the country to stop the closures of a vital resource because in doing so they are ripping the hearts out of local communities.