Campaigners announce day of action in response to axing of 10 of 15 Swindon libraries: Saturday December 3rd

By Ben Fitzgerald - 30 November 2016

EducationPoliticsCommunity

Campaigners from the Save Swindon’s Libraries have announced a day of action this Saturday in response to the proposed closure of ten of Swindon’s 15 libraries.

The group has urged members of the public to join them at Old Town and Highworth libraries on December 3rd to make their feelings known about the reduction in services.

At Old Town library, from 11am – 12noon, protesters are being asked to grab a book and read aloud to themselves, a child or a friend in what the group is billing a ‘reading flash mob’ to raise awareness of the value of smaller libraries.

A similar protest is being mounted in Highworth, beginning with a placard demonstration in the Market Square at 10am - 10.30pm followed by a meeting at the library at 11.30am. Campaigners are hoping to highlight their concerns that 15 hours of library provision is not enough.

In a statement by chair of the group Sarah Church, Save Swindon’s Libraries gave a guarded welcome to the proposed inclusion of Parks Library into the core provision of service and praised the efforts of those who helped save the facility.

“We commend the councillors and campaigners from the Parks, and residents from across Swindon, who spoke up during the consultation to make sure that the dreadful mistake of closing Park Library would not come to fruition. Thanks should also go to the councillors who scrutinised the plan to find the money to keep Park in the core service.”

However, she goes on to add the organisation's support to the approximately 40 full time and part time staff who may lose their jobs following a 60 per cent reduction of library hours in order to meet the council’s target of cutting £1.5million from the current £2.6million libraries budget.

“Save Swindon’s Libraries would like to offer its solidarity to those staff who learned today that they will have to reapply for their jobs over the Christmas period.

“A large number of staff will lose their jobs: the staff are the lifeblood of the library service and the reduction in their hours will have a profound impact on how library users access services.

“The report to Cabinet includes recommendations based on the results of the recent consultation, and Save Swindon’s Libraries acknowledges where improvements to the former plan have been made.”

The statement goes on to say that the new proposal represents a ‘dramatic reduction’ in services and is no guarantee of a comprehensive service in the future, claiming that potential Parish and community funding solutions would represent a postcode lottery.

“There remain many unanswered questions for core and non-core libraries, particularly over the economic sustainability of the plan and the substantial risk to the service if adequate income is not generated. Save Swindon’s Libraries will continue to raise these and other questions, and to assess the impact on users of the unfunded branch libraries. The timeframe for community expressions of interest is very tight – deadline 31 January – and it is very unlikely that solutions will be found across Swindon by then.”

Under the proposals, which are due to be put before the Council’s cabinet meeting on December 7, staffed hours for all libraries (except Central) will be reduced to 15 hours.

Members of the public can submit public questions ahead of the meeting to [email protected] by 3pm on Monday 5 December.

 

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