15th June 2011

BEAMINSTER: Library deadline looms

by Tom Glover

PROPOSALS which could save or close Beaminster library will be discussed by councillors at a county council meeting next week.

The future of all 34 Dorset’s libraries will be discussed next Monday as the county council look to save £800,000 from their annual budget.

Four possible solutions will be considered but all will either see core libraries, including Bridport, cut their services to save fringe libraries, or see rural libraries handed over to the community to run or being lost entirely.

Councillors will debate the pros and cons of all four money-saving solutions before making a recommendation to the Cabinet in July.

The options are:

A – Retain 14 core libraries and offer the remaining 20 libraries to be run by local communities, supported by the county council.

B – Retain 24 libraries, and offer the remaining 10 for local community ownership and management, supported by the county council. To make the necessary savings, this option would also involve a reduction in the bookfund and in frontline, management and support staff. Income options would be introduced through contributions for book reservations and reading groups would be invited to make donations to the service.

C – Reduce opening hours across all 34 libraries by 10 per cent, cut the bookfund and reduce frontline, management and support staff. Charges would be introduced for book reservations, and reading groups would be invited to make donations to the service.

D – Reduce the bookfund, review the approach to buying books, cut the frequency of book deliveries, and reduce management and support staff.

Public consultation on options A and C has been taking place across Dorset over the past three months. A small majority, 55 per cent, of users at the 14 ‘core’ libraries favoured proposal A, while a total of 67 per cent of users at the 20 community libraries backing option C.

Discussions have also taken place with library friends groups and local community representatives about these and other suggestions to find the savings. In addition, a policy development panel of councillors has met to consider suggestions, options and the modernisation of the service.

The policy development panel have supported plans to retain all 34 libraries, a proposal put forward by campaign group Ad Lib.

Ad Lib’s acting Chairman, Tim Lee, said: “We are, of course, delighted that the panel has backed the plan put forward by Ad Lib in January. We accepted then, and we still do, that the library service must cut its spending by £800,000 next year. But our alternative to the wholesale closure of libraries would save at least that much and keep these smaller libraries at the heart of community life.”

The committee’s views and recommendations will go to the council’s Cabinet meeting on July 6th for further debate, before a final decision is made by the full county council on July 21st. Any agreed changes need to be implemented by April next year.

Debbie Ward, the council’s director of adult and community services, said: “The decreasing amount of resources means that the current level of service cannot be maintained.

“There are a number of significant factors to balance when determining a way forward for the library service, both in terms of the future provision of the library service and making the required level of savings.

“There is a critical need to provide clarity on the way forward for the library service in order to achieve the required savings by April 2012.”

The proposals will be considered by the council’s community overview committee next Monday, June 20th.

A copy of the full committee report is available at: www.dorsetforyou.com/libraries/proposalforchange