LOCAL councillors have made strong objections to suggestions that Culcheth Library might have to close – despite assurances no decisions have yet been made.
In a letter to Emma Hutchinson, Managing Director of Livewire Warrington, Parish Councillors have made it clear they do not want Culcheth Library to close – although it will be Warrington borough council who make the final decision following ongoing public consultations.
Parish councillors at Culcheth & Glazebury say Culcheth Library is an asset to the community, well located on the village green and have criticised the failure of Livewire to develop it to include other community uses which are not available in the area.
Cllr Jacqui Johnson says: “No effort has been made to widen our youth provision or increase adult education. The Library could be a hub for our community. The Guides carried out a survey recently which brought out some excellent ideas and showed the enthusiasm of young people for their Library.”
Cllr Margaret Webber adds: “Computer use provided by the Library for those who do not have their own is a vital resource. It will be impractical for many people to access alternative provision at the proposed hubs because of reduced public transport.”
Overall the Parish Council believes that Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft would be getting a raw deal in the facilities we would have compared to other areas of the Borough if Livewire’s proposals are accepted.
Cllr Anne Roberts says: “One of the valued assets of a library is the ability to browse. The locker proposal is expensive, inadequate and doomed to failure. It is inappropriate for the demographic of the village.”
Cllr Ben Alldred added: “The Parish has a high proportion of elderly residents. The library is important in reducing isolation and promoting wellbeing. Its use should be expanded.”
Cllr Pete Holmes warned: “There are restrictive covenants associated with Culcheth Green. If the Library building is vacated it could prove unmarketable and become derelict.
Councillors concluded: “We feel that any decision should be delayed until a full discussion about the future use of the Library can be undertaken.”
Borough Councillors for Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft, Joan Grime, Matt Smith and Jan Davidson are also deeply opposed to any plans to close Culcheth library.
They say: “There has been a huge response in our villages in support of the Library, which is used by people from across the ward. All age groups in the population, from very young families to our most elderly residents, have told us personally of the importance of the Library to them. Many letters have been sent to us and to the Livewire Consultation, all of them objecting to the Library closure. There is no doubting the strength of feeling in the villages on this issue.”
The Borough Councillors add: “We appreciate what Livewire has done in encouraging sport and physical activity across the Borough, but do not feel they have managed our Library with anything like the same enthusiasm. The policy has been to cut hours (and then say the use has dropped) rather than develop the service. Groups that have met there have been told it is not practical to continue.
“We have serious doubts whether Livewire includes the management capability to take wise decisions about the future of the Libraries. The residents of our villages have been deeply scathing about the consultation process and many people consider it has been totally invalid. We call for the plans to close our Library to be scrapped.”
But LiveWire’s MD Emma Hutchinson responded: “We have simply released proposals for consultation.
“Nothing is set in stone and we are inviting public feedback. At the end of the consultation period, a report we will be presented to Warrington Borough Council who will make the final decision on these proposals.
“It is vital that we discuss the future of our libraries, as the way they are being used is changing significantly against a backdrop of wider central government cuts. We need to respond to this and examine the options.
“Members of LiveWire’s Senior Management Team have a good mix of skills and experience across all of the services LiveWire provides including libraries. One member of the Senior Management Team is a trained librarian and has 17 years’ experience working in a variety of roles in the borough’s libraries.
“These proposals have been developed by a team of experienced staff from across LiveWire which has included two members of staff who currently hold both strategic and operational roles within the library service and have the correct expertise and experience to develop proposals to reshape the library offer in the town in order to try and increase participation.”
8 Comments
I make the point that I have previously made, Parish Councils are able to increase their precept, and with the money raised, they could run the library on behalf of their residents, it is localism and something constructive that a Parish Council and its Parish Councillors could do.
Notwithstanding WBC’s out sourcing (aka hiving off) our libraries to LiveWire, WBC still has legal obligations to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service to the people of Warrington.
Under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act:
▪ Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library services.
▪ The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has a legal duty for the stewardship and improvement of public libraries in England.
Under the 2010 Equality Act:
▪ The Secretary of State’s duty to issue statutory guidance must be exercised in compliance with his duty under section 149 of the Equality Act – to have due regard of the need to eliminate discrimination and to advance equality of opportunity among protected groups. For example, this means ensuring changes to library services do not disadvantage people who may not be able to travel large distances
▪ The widely-reported cuts to library services risk contravening these rules and protected groups are likely to be disproportionately affected by any further reductions, to those already introduced, in library services by WBC.
It could also be argued that catch all the Human Rights legislation might also be brought to bear to reinforce the above.
Undoubtedly true, but when the pot of money is limited, difficult choices are having to be made as to how the money is allocated. Local Authorities also have a statutory duty to provide a range of social services, and where the demand for those services increases year on year. A dilemma!
I wonder how what LiveWire’s operating costs are?
Lots of information available on the Companies House website, hopefully the following link will work:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07972958/filing-history
I can think of one difficult decision that didn’t even get considered.
1. Either move the council’s admin staff to one of the many office buildings on business parks around Warrington and then set up a customer service counter in the town centre.
2. Or build a huge new office for the council on prime town centre land from the ground up and hide the much higher costs in the budget for a commercial development.
Was that a difficult decision?
Try as you might Mark you won’t get WBC to disclose the expenditure/cost elements for their new offices, claiming as you say it’s all wrapped up in the overall cost of the whole commercial development. Cllr Bowden has repeatedly ducked the question whilst at the same time claiming WBC is prudent in controlling its expendture and costs.
Mark – All options for a single location were looked at and I think that I have answered your questions before.
The costs of the various elements of the Time Square scheme are presented as one. It is the business case as a whole that stacks up, not salami slices chosen to fit whatever agenda you might have. It must be fairly obvious that rebuilding the market and providing new offices are part-funded by the more profitable parts of the scheme. However, the ongoing cost of developing and maintaining a single new office will be significantly less than that of renting and/or maintaining multiple sites across the borough, that has been the clear intent over the last few years.
Not sure how much more clarity you want, Positron – the only person hiding behind a moniker here appears to be you.