Fate Of Library In The Balance
By kevineone | Wednesday, February 02, 2011, 13:16
Local officials have called on Surrey County Council to consult with residents before it decides the fate of Bramley library.
Cllr David Munro, Waverley’s councillor for communities and partnerships asked leaders at Surrey to defer its plans to devolve the running of Bramley Library to the community until local people have had the chance to have their say on the matter.
But following its meeting of Cabinet members on 1st February, Surrey is set to launch plans to devolve some public libraries, including Bramley, to the community. That means asking the community to run the libraries, probably by using volunteers to do so. The County Council would continue to provide the building, stock and other resources needed. Bramley library is one of 11 libraries at risk. Surrey County Council contacted neither Waverley nor Bramley Parish Council about its plans. Cllr Munro described receiving the news about devolving Bramley library as "a bolt from the blue."
"We completely understand that difficult choices need to be made about public services in the current financial climate and appreciate that devolution is a possibility for some services," says Cllr Munro. "But we strongly feel that full, effective and transparent consultation must be carried out before decisions are made. Presenting the community with a ‘done deal’ will undermines the success of any devolution process."
In his letter to Surrey County Council, Cllr Munro also raised concerns about how the 11 libraries were selected, outlining how the decision-making process may have been unfairly weighted in favour of the county’s "larger urban areas to the detriment of rural communities such as Waverley’s."
Waverley asked Surrey County Council to look in more detail at the facts about Bramley library and the community it supports.
Comments
Sue O’Connell, Chairman, Bramley Parish Council has wriiten a direct letter to Surrey County Council. In it she states:
"I am writing on behalf of Bramley Parish Council to request you to postpone the discussion and decision at your February 1st Cabinet Meeting related to giving already selected Libraries (item 12), including that of Bramley, an ultimatum that if volunteers are not found to run the service, then the library will be closed.
To take any decision on this matter will be both contrary to your stated principles of your public value review process and unsafe in view of the flawed criteria used in the selection of the libraries to be given this ultimatum.
Namely:-
1. Consultation: A guiding principle of PVR is consultation. At no time have we, as the Community Leaders and representatives in Bramley, or any other part of the Bramley community, been consulted over the selection of affected libraries. Indeed we only found out about the Cabinet Agenda item on 26th January 2011.
2. Criteria for selection. These are set out in Appendix 2 for Item 12 of the Agenda. They appear to ignore absolutely:-
(a) any consideration of the local economic effect on a rural village of a closure
(b) the additional transport cost and effect on the already overloaded A281 as Bramley users struggle to another library
(c) the actual demographics of a village such as Bramley
(d) the effect on local schools, in particular Bramley Infant School and Gosden House School
This is not a comprehensive list, and with more time the particular rural issues – what happened to “Rural Proofing” policies – associated with such a decision will be developed.
In addition the actual outcomes of the curious, apparently unweighted, calculation are not available to your Cabinet or for the public to review. We have not had time to request these or for them to be demanded under FOI, and therefore are not in a position to offer any detailed critique – or to accept Bramley’s selection.
A postponement will enable a proper understanding to be achieved regarding Bramley’s selection and proper local consultation to take place so that the authors of this review can themselves better understand the effect a closure would have on a largely rural area, and if necessary adjust their criteria accordingly. It would also afford all affected communities the opportunity to consider their own positions, rather than just being issued with an ultimatum.
As elected representatives ourselves, we are fully aware of the need to make difficult choices and in principle accept the idea of a greater volunteer involvement and would look to achieve that. However we take the greatest possible exception to being faced with an ultimatum – “find volunteers quickly or the Library will close”. It would be acceptable to be asked to find volunteers but with a guarantee that the library will remain open if that proves to be not practical.
We do hope that you will see the force of our argument, and postpone the item on the agenda.
Yours sincerely
By PatHill at 15:01 on 02/02/11
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