The Second Victory

04/10/2009 by Chairman.

An unusual sequence of events we appear to have witnessed over the last 10 months, have we not?

First we find the long term threat to close libraries is being repeated like the annual ‘must do’ mantra, then we find it IS actually happening, then we find our elected representatives are endorsing the closure of one of our most useful amenities and we find ourselves being an isolated corner of Wirral once again!

All seemed to happen very quickly. Staff being told they will be redeployed and preparations being made to have a redundant building secured against vandalism!

Thankfully, intervention from Central Government gave some hope to this ill-thought out, hasty decision and it would now appear has been sufficient to force WBC into a U-Turn.

Is this really a Victory? Well, if our library stays open, then yes! but at what cost? Already Councillor Steve Foulkes is hinting that whilst they will continue to operate the libraries, they will have to find the money from somewhere. Is this then, just a temporary measure to appease the enquiry and the public or will we find something equally as harsh around the next corner? From reading the local press, I fear something is looming, but we shall wait and see.

Another unusual element of this debacle I find are the words behind the u-turn. The BBC quote Cncllr Foulkes as saying “We decided to keep the libraries open because we have our residents and employees to look after. We need to give them some stability”. I ask, what has changed? Haven’t you always had residents and employees to look after? Why did you de-stabalise Communities with these threats? and why can you not concede it was a bad plan in the first place?

The Council will now have to find from the 2009/10 budget over £800,000 to fund the libraries and a further £200,000 for repairs… somewhat less than the £20M ‘investment’ in the 13 new proposed ‘Community Centres’!

Nonetheless, regardless of what has happened, whilst I am pleased Irby library (and others) have been saved, I do not believe the problem will have gone away. We have a situation where local government are having to make cut backs amounting to tens of millions of pounds, coupled with the fact central government are also opening the debate on the future of our Libraries!

Had it not been for the likes of ITPAS, the library user groups and passionate Wirral residents, I am quite sure these closures would have been completed by now. People power does actually work when enough people stand up to be counted. A brush off statement of “well I dont really use the library” is not good enough. Our children do! Books are a keystone of society and it is everyone’s right to have freely available access  to them… that is ALL people, ALL ages and ALL backgrounds!

Finally, let us now give some consideration to those who created the Strategic Asset Review and those who allowed this scandalous proposal to go as far as it did…

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