LIBRARIES: A RAY OF HOPE?
NEW OPTIONS ARE ON TABLE AS CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERS THEIR FUTURE
NOTTINGHAM City Council has opened the door to keeping three community libraries open.
The Labour-run authority has detailed five possible options to save them after thousands of residents, organisations and a campaign group condemned plans to axe them to save just £79,000.
The council will consider five possible outcomes for the future of the libraries after a consultation which garnered almost 3,000 responses.
The closure plans in some of the city’s most deprived areas sparked 2,979 responses and 110 signatures on a letter from writers and poets such as Henry Normal, plus backing from organisations and campaign groups.
It was initially understood the savings from closing Basford, Aspley and the Radford-lenton libraries would total £233,000, to be phased over three years. It is now known that the phasing has already provided a saving of £154,000, achieved by a “restructure of frontline services”, and that shutting the libraries would only save £79,000.
Delays to the opening of the new Central Library, and the costs of transport to get from a deprived area to a nearby library, were raised as “serious concerns” by national, local and campaign groups – with an implication that the cuts could leave the city council “less well positioned to apply for additional funding”, according to the Arts Council for England.
New options for the future include:
■ Volunteer-led libraries: A “number of initial discussions have taken place with community partners with potential interest in using library buildings”, the council says. But these plans have already been condemned by groups, including Save Nottingham Libraries, who say they would only typically benefit affluent areas while getting rid of valued staff.
■ Shared use of community build ings: This is where a library could be housed in a council and local community owned and managed building.
■ Technology-enabled opening: A popular consideration was that of redesigning libraries so they have a technology-enabled opening system, like modern gyms, so the sites do not need to be staffed all the time. Set-up costs would be “substantial”.
■ Redistribution of opening hours: The final consideration is the redistribution of opening hours across sites, to “achieve a net reduction in open hours in line with the revenue saving required”.
■ Third-party asset transfer: This would mean the building would be transferred through a sale or long-term lease, with terms that could include the provision for a publicly accessible library.
The documents also point positively towards potential new funding streams.
Cultural Investment Funds, announced by Arts Council England on May 10, present opportunities for the library service to bid for new money.
Funds can also be secured from the Libraries Improvement Fund from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport and Arts Council England.
Decisions on bids will be made in February next year.
And, while money could be secured via Levelling Up funding, the city council says it is prioritising the redevelopment of Broad Marsh and Bulwell town centre in round two.
The consultation prompted the input of a number of campaign groups and organisations, both national and local.
Many groups – including Arts Council England, which has and continues to invest millions into the city – condemned the plans.
Rebecca Blackman, Arts Council England director of engagement and audiences and area director for the Midlands, said: “Given the uncertainty around the opening of the central library development, it is concerning that the residents of these areas won’t have access to library provision and are unlikely to travel to other branches, not least in areas of deprivation where transport costs are prohibitive.
“It is concerning that the proposed closures could severely reduce residents’ access to PCS, wi-fi and IT training support, with a knock-on effect in terms of increasing isolation, reducing access to services and cultural experiences, hindering job seeking and economic opportunity for those communities where most support may be needed.
“It is evident that libraries offer excellent value in terms of community support and we would encourage a long-term, systems-thinking approach that balances required savings alongside the value these library branches provide in terms of local provision and connectivity.”
She added: “Over the period [from] 2018 to 2022 and across a number of our funding streams, we will have invested over £39 million into the city’s cultural infrastructure, including around £5 million cultural recovery funds.
“Earlier this year, Nottingham City Libraries were awarded £114,758 from the Libraries Improvement Fund via Arts Council for improvements to Hyson Green Library.
“We are also aware you have made a current application to our capital programme for a number of Nottingham city libraries. The announcements for this are due imminently.
“Whilst we note the significant challenge of working within reduced budgets, there are a number of time-sensitive funding and partnership opportunities that may contribute towards balancing the business case of the proposed £233k saving from the three library closures.
“The implications of the cuts could mean that Nottingham City Council is less well positioned to apply for additional funding, not only from Arts Council but also from other funders.”
The Library Campaign, a national charity supporting libraries across the country, says it “remains unsatisfied that the closures are necessary or appropriate.”
Laura Swaffield, chairwoman and trustee for the charity, and Geoffrey Dron, a trustee, said the council could ultimately fail to meet its statutory duty to provide a “comprehensive and efficient” library service.
They said: “Alleged lack of resources cannot be used to justify the provision of a service which is incapable of meeting the statutory criteria on any objective standards.”
And Stewart Halforty, of the Save Nottingham Libraries group, told the Post that, based on the mapping of residential properties, 37,700 households were within a 20-minute walk of the three libraries, including 8,875 active library users. The closures would mean 13,611 households (or nine per cent of the city’s residential properties) and 2,325 active users would have no library provision within a 20-minute walk, and thousands of these households were in the 10 per cent most deprived areas of the country.
He said: “We welcome the result of the consultation which shows overwhelming opposition to the closure of these three libraries. We were pleased with the volume of responses which is a testament to the popularity of these local libraries.
“The contributions from the Arts Council summed up the theme of the campaign so far. Nottingham is a City of Literature and cannot justify the closure of three libraries in some of the poorest wards in our city.
“We hope the city council takes this opportunity to commit to keeping these libraries open in communities they have served for almost a century. The figures show around seven in 10 respondents in support of keeping these libraries open.”
The city council’s executive will discuss the findings next month. While councillors will discuss the alternate options, a number of factors will be taken into account.
The council says: “The cost of living crisis has created a perfect storm of increasing public demand and rising costs for local authorities. When the first consultation commenced this wasn’t a key factor but is something that does now need to be factored in in supporting Nottingham residents.
“The postpandemic recovery is seeing a return to libraries but still not in line with pre-covid figures. Excluding the figures for Central and Sherwood Libraries, closed for redevelopment, physical issues of books remain currently down by approximately 13 per cent and visits to libraries 65 per cent, compared to prepandemic figures. “The anticipated opening of Central Library in summer 2023 along with the opening of new Sherwood Library in winter 2022, strengthens significantly the network, providing wider opportunities and access for users and understanding the use of these libraries in the context of the network is an important factor in the decision making process.”
We hope the council takes this opportunity to commit to keeping these libraries open
Stewart Halforty