Alan Gibbons’ Blog

Buckinghamshire libraries face 10 per cent hours cut

3:05pm Monday 25th January 2010

LIBRARY opening hours face an axe of an average 10 per cent as part of a raft of cuts across the service.

Buckinghamshire County Council said the average cut could be 10.4 per cent, a move that would save £279,000.

Stock budget cuts and job cut losses could also be on the way.

And chiefs want charities and voluntary groups to run branches instead of the council. This happened in recent years at four branches amidst fears they would close.

Overall, a total £1.2m of savings needs to be found from the culture and learning department for coming years.

Watchdog councillors probing the cuts questioned the plans, which will be put to councillors for agreement next month.

Cllr Tim Butcher warned: “People go along and it is not open any more so you reduce usage. It is not convenient for them to be there.”

Trying to ‘squeeze a few quid here and there’ with opening hours ‘doesn’t get to the centre of the problem’ said Cllr Adrian Busby.

Cllr Niknam Hussain warned: “If you start to decline, as you are proposing in your budget, hours and stock, you are on a vicious circle down.

“In a few years someone will say ‘no-one is using this place, let’s close it down’.”

Of proposed cuts to archives and studies staff (see list below), Cllr Michael Brand said: “We are going to lose this important heritage that has been built up over the years.”

The library cuts were a result of a “legacy of poor management and no strategy” and spending “not really related to the numbers of people in Buckinghamshire” said Cllr Peter Hardy.

But Councillor Mike Colston, responsible for libraries, answered that the service has ‘suffered from under-investment for some time’.

And he said: “We can’t really get away from the fact that there is insufficient money to run every library at the level that professional librarians would like us to.”

The only alternative to cuts is to put up council tax, he said. Ruling Conservatives want a two per cent rise for BCC’s share, about an extra £22.

The council is looking at letting volunteers run four libraries instead of BCC. Cllr Colston did not give names and the department told The Bucks Free Press none were on the table.

Libraries in West Wycombe, the Chalfonts and Micklefield were taken out of council control with the latter rebuilt as a result.

There were fears these would close unless people came forward. Cllr Colston said charities have better access to grants than the council.

And ‘despite the furore’ at the time, the libraries ‘have actually proved themselves’ he said.

Yet council papers show there will be ‘possible redundancy implications’ if this goes ahead. The plan would save £94,000 and happen in 2012/13.

Other savings proposals include:

• Close all libraries except High Wycombe for a week at Christmas to save £46,000.

• Stopping time-and-a-half pay for Saturdays, agreed for September to save £60,000 next year.

• Not replacing the local studies officer at High Wycombe library to save £33,000.

• Making a manager redundant at the Centre for Bucks Studies in 2012/13 to save £59,000.

• Not replacing museum keeper at Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury to save £32,000.

• Closing the museum on Sunday afternoons to save £12,000 in 2012.

• Closing the reading development team.

• Reducing the County Archives team by one to save £32,000.

• ‘Supply efficiencies’ to save £69,000.

• Keeping Stoke Poges library closed. It shut in 2005 for a mobile library. Saving: £35,000.

Cllr Colston was spekaing to the budget and medium term plan task & finish group last week.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.