28th July 2011

DORCHESTER: �Down but not out� campaigners will fight on for future of library

By Tom Glover

CAMPAIGNERS will fight for the best community takeover deal for Puddletown Library after Dorset County Council decided to cut its funding.

Dorset County Council members voted 21 to 20 in favour of cutting the funding to nine libraries, including Puddletown.

The alternative proposal, which involved maintaining all 34 libraries with cuts shared across the board, lost out by a single vote with members claiming it would drastically weaken the library service and simply delay the inevitable.

Under the proposals, approved by DCC on Thursday of last week, the nine smaller branch libraries face having their funding withdrawn in 2012 – but local people can take up an offer of council support to secure a community-run facility instead.

The council is proposing to provide books, computers, self-service facilities and staffing expertise to support those nine local communities if they want to take over responsibility for their library building – which could then also be opened up for other public uses.

The community would be expected to cover the running costs however, which at Puddletown Library are expected to be in the region of £3,000 per year, including £1,500 rental costs.

Campaign Group Ad Lib said they were “gutted to lose” and will now be fighting on behalf of the nine community libraries that have had their funding cut.

“We are down but we are not out,” said Graham Lee, chairman of Ad Lib. “We will now fight to get the best deal we can for the libraries the council wants to wash its hands of. The main thing we will be arguing for is that any community which takes over the running of its library from the council should still be covered by the1964 Libraries Act.

“The council’s officers are telling us that, as voluntary bodies, we would not get that protection, but we’re not buying that. We have no confidence that without the law behind us, Dorset County Council would continue to supply us with the books we need to survive.”

Mr Lee added that Ad Lib would now be meeting with its legal advisors to decide how to proceed if any legal challenge to the council’s decision were decided on.

Council leader Angus Campbell said the decision had not been easy. “We know that libraries are very important to many people, and this process has quite understandably aroused a lot of strong feeling,” he said.

“We have improved the community offer and increased the number of libraries to be retained by the council.

“We must ensure that the library service is sustainable into the future, and I believe retaining all 34 libraries would have seriously damaged that approach – bleeding the service dry for a short-term fix. It would have greatly increased the likelihood of having to revisit this subject in the next couple of years, and find even more savings. Local government funding has undergone a seismic shift, and we must adapt to that.

“The approach we have taken will help us maintain a strong service, providing a good spread of libraries across the county and mobile libraries to continue serving isolated rural areas. At the same time, we will offer extensive support to those communities where funding will be withdrawn, giving them the chance not only to maintain independent libraries but also make better use of buildings which are currently open for just a few hours each week.”

The eight other libraries who will have their funding cut are Burton Bradstock, Charmouth, Chickerell, Colehill, Corfe Castle, Portland Underhill, Stalbridge and Wool.

Talks will now take place with the nine affected communities about the community take-over option, before the changes are implemented next year.

DORCHESTER: �Down but not out� campaigners will fight on for future of library

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