AROUND 50 people attended a second public consultation on the future of Culcheth Library.
The event was hosted by local councillor Matt Smith, who at the end of proceedings, suggested a working group be set up to discuss other options of keeping the library open, with community involvement.
LiveWire explained that due to cuts from Central Government, they had been asked by Warrington Borough Council to take a £300k cut to their management fee from the council, and that this should come from modernising services.
Culcheth library costs £44,000 per year to run including the staffing and overheads for the property.
The falling use of libraries was in line with national trends.
LiveWire MD Emma Hutchinson stated that there had been an error in the initial Culcheth visitor figures that were circulated and that a systems error meant that three months of figures had not been included.
She stated that the correct figures had now also been shared with the public and that this was a systems issue and was not a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.
She also added that visitor figures are a guide to usage in library buildings which are measured by people counters and manually by staff and that the most important figures in terms of lending and reading books are book issue figures which are measured by a digital system in line with statutory library services across the country.
With regard to lending lockers, Emma explained that they do not want to replace libraries and that LiveWire understood the value of a library to its users. Lockers are considered by some to be more convenient to those who can’t visit their local library due to hours that they work and other commitments.
Many residents and councillors commented on the terrible transport links in the area now that Network Warrington has withdrawn more stops on routes and made it clear that this would cause issues with getting locals to the library, if it was situated at Birchwood or Culcheth Community Campus (the High School).
There was discussion of increasing the parish precept to around £10 per person on their council tax to run the library as currently, or a smaller increase to run it with volunteers.
At the end of the meeting a number of people came forward following Cllr Smith’s suggestion of a working party.
Speaking after the meeting LiveWire Director Paul Taylor said: “It was a good meeting. Everyone was looking for a way forward from where we are and Matt did a great job of chairing it. The government cuts have hit Warrington badly but many other towns have already shut down many facilities like this. Hopefully we won’t have to here in Culcheth.
“There are some good options on the table but the residents in the working group need to figure out which works best for them and make sure it’s sustainable. I’m happy to help with my Livewire hat on or my Taylor Business Park hat. I grew up here and don’t want to see our library close, or any other libraries in town. Nobody in Livewire does. They’re an essential part of our society but we’re in hard times so we’ve got to be clever about how we approach this challenge.”
