VIDEO: WARRINGTON Borough Council Chief Executive Steven Broomhead says there has been no increase in the number of people using the town’s libraries since the consultation started on their future.
With numbers declining over the years Mr Broomhead says he wished more people had actually used the libraries since the consultation had started – but in reality there had been no increase.
He believes libraries will be different in the future but says they are still an important part of the local community.
As to whether any will close is a matter “which will need careful consideration. I can’t comment any further but the ink is not dry and no decisions have been reached.”
Mr Broomhead was talking during his annual interview with warrington-worldwide Editor Gary Skentelbery, reflecting on the past 12 months in the town, which has seen another 100 jobs go at the council.
Despite the challenges of austerity, with the council losing 40 per cent of its income in recent years, Mr Broomhead says there are still lots of good things happening in the town and a lot of people think Warrington is a good place to live.
He says the biggest challenges being faced by the council are the costs of social care, with people living longer and getting older.
With no meat left on the bone, he is now cutting into the bone.
Other topics discussed include the charging policy for green bins and the ongoing highway issues.
Click on the video above to hear the full interview.
27 Comments
What steps has Live Wire taken to encourage greater use?
They’ve been focusing their energies into what they want to do rather than on what is needed or wanted by the Community. Isn’t it supposed to be a ‘community interest company’?
There’s no consideration of the community evident in this situation.
Isn’t there some big question mark over the validity of Live Wire’s library attendance figures?
Every person going into a library in warrington is electronically counted. What do you base your doubts of their figures on?
Helen Jones’ comments and doubts on the information Live Wire produced to justify the actions it is proposing, seemingly as we all suspected at the behest of WBC.
The fact that they don’t seem to know how many months there are in a year!
The under-calculation which supported the case for cuts to library services was said to be a ‘mistake’.
A similar ‘mistake’ was the over-calculation of almost half a million pounds ‘running costs’ which supported the sell off proposals for Walton Hall.
What if you enter through the Museum Door?
The word of a politician??? Please forgive the laughter.
It’s easy enough to read through Livewire’s reports to get this information. Perhaps you should have done that before you posted your last comment. The joke’s on you Paul!
Helen Jones was only reiterating what others who have had figures furnished by Live Wire also said. As SHA has confirmed WBC has a poor record when it comes to contrived calculations and economies with the actualite in apparent justification for an eventual course of action.
but the report says numbers using the libraries are declining, did you read it?
Steven Broomhead quotes on the issue of the town’s libraries (firstly) “ I think we’ll re-engineer all the provisions of the library”
(later) “I think when we come to the conclusion, following the consultation, we’ll see different format for libraries for the future”…………
“We asked Livewire to reduce their budget.”…………
“We’re trying to think through what the best future is for our space which is currently called the library” ………..
I don’t think it seem as though WBC are going to allow a (notably unmentioned) 10,000 + people petition to steer them from their plans does it?
But then I don’t see that any decisions made by WBC will stand in the way of the ‘keep our libraries open’ protesters either!
Perhaps we could organise a “use our libraries” campaign. If the 10,000 people prepared to sign the save the libraries petition are so bothered they should perhaps consider using the places which would make them seem more valued.
I think it would be more productive to organize a “get a better management” campaign. Livewire have been in control of library services since 2012 , so what have they been doing for the last 4 years? Perhaps if they’d spent some time and effort on upgrading the book stock rather than making plans to close the libraries down they might have increased user numbers. St Helens has a really good library service, instead of closing libraries they made cuts by changing opening hours to fit user’s needs and they have increased access to local history material which is currently very popular. All the falling attendance figures show is that Livewire just isn’t up to the job.
Live Wire, WBC, call it what you like, have never been noted for maintaining and enhancing it/their assets. The libraries is just one example of this neglect – buildings and books (not forgetting the trained library staff) have had scant regard paid to them for several years now. “Organising” Community Wellbeing days in a couple/few primary schools to encourage reading (you wonder why we have teachers) is the sum total of Live Wire’s proactive contribution towards libraries in this town.
The tenor and content of Steven Broomhead’s comments above give a clue to which way the library dice are already loaded ahead of tonight’s meeting. Like most “discussions” in this borough it’s a case of we’ll listen to what you say and then tell you what we’re going to do.
You seem to be at odds with yourself SHA, on the one hand you blame LiveWire for falling library usage and on the other you claim usage isn’t down. Please let me know which is your true opinion as it will make the discussion easier.
Where did I claim usage wasn’t down? I just pointed that the figures hadn’t been calculated correctly, which would have made the figures lower than what they really are. User numbers may be falling, but not by the amount first suggested. So probably not significantly enough to make a good case for closure.
Don’t you feel that, given library use across the country is declining, the fact is we are getting our books and reference information in a different way? In February this year all the library opening hours were changed SHA. yet numbers of users still decline. In England in the last decade library visits and book borrowing has fallen dramatically with over 30% fewer users. I am a library user myself and love visiting the main library in town but I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are in there over the last few years. As the town has had to cope with a 40% cut in its income due to Government cuts in the name of austerity, cutbacks in services are inevitable regardless how unsavoury.
Across the country numbers of people going to the cinema are continually falling, it’s not stopping them building a cinema in the town centre though is it? How many years before that closes and becomes an indoor concert venue?
will that improve the library service? Conflation.
Paul library hours were cut in February, not improved. Livewire have reduced spending on books ever year, quality newspapers have been removed – all of these things have lead to falling use. Warrington’s libraries are still wel used.
Warrington has aspirations to achieve City status, so why wasn’t a new build library to equal the City centre libraries of Manchester and Liverpool included in the town centre regeneration plans?
We could have had a fantastic, larger library and the historic town library could have become a local history library and our local history archives instead of being stored in Chester could have been brought ‘home’.
This would have pleased residents and also drawn visitors to the town.
The latest ‘pie in the sky’ bid for ‘City of Culture’ will make us a laughing stock. Seriously, a town council that believes squashing a few books and shelves into a vacant shoe shop in the noisiest part of the town will suffice as adequate library provision has absolutely no idea of the meaning of the word ‘culture’.
A campaign to knock this wasteful fantasy on the head would benefit the town and save the £11+ million which will be spent just preparing for the bid. A petition to Historic England begging them not to fund the destruction of the beautiful town centre library would also be useful. It would certainly knock some of their silly plans on the head.
You would have thought the town that first housed the John Dalton Library, before it was moved to Manchester would have had a greater empathy for that heritage and strive to preserve it, rather than hive it off to a Funky Dory fate. Perhaps John Dalton foresaw what might happen and decided things could only be better away from Warrington.
I doubt libraries ever made a profit, even those which strictly imposed fines on overdue books. David is absolutely right in what he says on Live Wire’s scant regard for the management of our libraries. It seems to me WBC has created a rock and a hard place situation for Live Wire. That company is in a parlous trading situation and is only able to continue trading because of contractual arrangements with WBC, as the latest filed accounts confirm. Yet there is no suggestion from Live Wire or its backer (WBC aka our council tax revenues) it should cut its annual staff costs of
£6,466,746 in order to reduce its pretax deficit or liabilities last shown as (£218,447) and (£516,448) up from (£187,227) and (£210,296) in 2014. By lumping libraries in with Live Wire’s other activities from which is expecting to make a profit, WBC is imposing constraints on libraries they have never previously had.
‘I think “lumping libraries in with Livewire’s other activities” is more about finding a means to fleece the libraries of their allocated funding to shore up the useless, ‘activities’ which are an excuse for their continued employment.
The Golden Square ‘shoe shop’ venue, in the noisy, lively heart of the town would obviously be a more appropriate venue for the ‘activities’ and the quieter Museum St Venue more appropriate for a library so why relocate the library? Would it perhaps be that the rent for the shoe shop could then be taken out of the library funds, whilst Livewire gets a free venue in the old library? – which they hope will be funded by a HERITAGE lottery grant. Dream on Livewire!. 🙂 There are strict criteria for the allocation of these grants – funding the destruction of heritage is certainly not a point for consideration and flying in the face of public opinion a complete non starter
Perhaps instead of getting a free venue in the main library building SHA, they have plans to sell it off or redevelop it as part of the town centre scheme? Wonder what they have in mind for the other outlying library buildings earmarked for closure? Selling them off too? That would rake in some cash?
They are applying for funding to demolish the 1970’s extension and rebuild and extend to create extra storage for the museum. The interior of the present library is to be drastically and horrifically ‘modernised’ with metal/glass constructs and there is planned to be a gross ‘glass slug’ stuck on the outside wall to the left of the Museum St entrance. The modernized (destroyed) present library is to be a ‘hub’ for livewire ‘activities’. As I said previously the most common sense solution would be to have the ‘activities’ closer to the busier parts of the town centre and leave the library in the quieter location. People use the library to study but I doubt they would be able to concentrate in the Golden Square, especially when events are being held.
In 2008/9 funding was obtained to restore the historical interior, do they now seriously expect more funding to destroy it? .