25th May 2011

LYME REGIS: Councillors opposed to taking over the town's library service

Town councillors have met with county Library Services manager Tracy Long to receive an update on the decision by Dorset County County to withdraw funding for Lyme Regis Library.

They also received details of the improved offer for communities to take over the running of their libaries.

But councillors made it very clear they did not believe that Lyme Regis should pay for its own library when residents were already paying for services through their council tax.

They explained that Lyme Regis Town Council was already plugging the gaps for many organisations where grant funding had been withdrawn and that this was especially problematic in Lyme where there were virtually no county council funded services.

Councillors also stressed that they were concerned about the concept of DCC’s model which provided for community libraries to be run by volunteers with only three hours of professional support time per week.

It was pointed out that in communities such as Lyme, the Big Society had been up and running for years and that many volunteers were already involved in multiple projects and that “volunteer overstretch” was a real issue.

Ms Long said that DCC were aware of the views of communities such as Lyme and that they had heard the message that communities were opposed to what is regarded as double taxation.

Ms Long confirmed that there had been two meetings between DCC officers, Lyme Regis Development Trust and Councillor Lorna Jenkin, as the town council representative, to discuss an alternative proposal where the county continued to provide funding for a library but that the library service was moved to an alternative location to co-locate with other services to enable a more comprehensive service to be run with lower overheads and costs.

Ms Long confirmed that she and her manager were interested in the proposals put forward but that she could not confirm whether DCC members were likely to agree to continue funding.

Ms Long said she was drafting a report to go before DCC’s Community Overview Committee on June 20th after which a recommendation would be made to the full council. The matter would then be debated further at the full council meeting on July 20th prior to a decision being made on the withdrawal of funding and the detail of the community offer.

Ms Long explained that alternative proposals put forward by Lyme Regis would be covered in her draft report and she hoped that county councillors would discuss these proposals prior to any decisions being made.

Speaking after the meeting, library campaigner and new councillor Anita Williams said that the meeting had been part of an ongoing process of consultation by DCC and was designed to ensure that parish councils were being kept informed of developments.

Ms Williams said that it had been useful for councillors to have the opportunity to make their views clear to Ms Long and to understand what is being offered by DCC. She said that campaigners would continue to raise the profile of Lyme Regis Library and try to convince county councillors that there were other alternatives for the library service than permanently decimating 20 out of 34 of libraries in Dorset.

An update on the current situation regarding the future of Lyme Regis Library was given to local campaigners at a meeting, chaired by Development Trust chairman Wendy Davies, at the Woodmead Halls on Monday.

LYME REGIS: Councillors opposed to taking over the town's library service

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