Suffolk County Council have no mandate for their Library Plans

It is an integral part of our political system in the UK that a party seeking election publishes a manifesto detailing their plans if elected. It is taken on trust that they will honour such a manifesto. In January 2011 Suffolk County Council who are dominated by the Conservative party published a consultation on the future of libraries in Suffolk.

Suffolk County Council have confirmed since then that within three years they intend to provide no library services themselves and employ no staff. Existing libraries will be run by local communities, private companies or closed. Whatever way you look at this and even if you think this is just what should happen this is a radical departure from the past and as the consultation document itself says: "Services to be delivered differently in the future".


The consultation document goes on to say:

If we do not receive your ideas for ways in which the county council can substantially reduce its funding, we propose to fund or part fund some of the county’s libraries, and stop funding the rest.

So this is clearly a major change and the kind of thing you would expect to find in the Conservative Party manifesto from 2009 when the council was elected. You can download a copy of the manifesto and take a look for yourself and see that it is not mentioned at all or even alluded to.

In fact what is in the manifesto about libraries is the following:

We have delivered an ambitious and innovative programme of investment in the county's libraries, with a new library opened at Great Cornard, and three more coming soon at Gainsborough, Kessingland and Woodbridge. Major refurbishment has taken place at Felixstowe and Ipswich (Chantry) Library, with work at Sudbury about to start.

The award-winning Felixstowe library is the base for the ground-breaking Café Libra, which offers employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities.

 It then goes on to promise:

Libraries
We will open new libraries in Woodbridge and Kessingland, as well as the lottery-funded community centre and library in Gainsborough, Ipswich, bringing reading, information and community activities in a modern setting to these areas.

And also:

Our new mobile library and community service underlines our commitment to rural communities. We have delivered new library routes that reach people better and through new state-of-the-art mobile libraries, giving people access to the full potential of Suffolk's libraries. These contain full, on-line internet access, by means of new satellite technology. Five of the six mobile libraries have been replaced or re-equipped, with a sixth on schedule for the end of 2009

 I fail to see how any conceivable reading of this manifesto could demonstrate that the council has a mandate for the policy they are now advancing. Let's take each of the services they mention in turn:

• Great Cornard - New library in 2009 manifesto - on the 2011 list of community libraries which will be closed unless a community organization takes them over
• Kessingland - Promised library in 2009 manifesto - opened as promised now on the 2011 list of community libraries which will be closed unless a community organization takes them over
• Gainsborough (Ipswich) and Woodbridge - Promised libraries in 2009 manifesto - opened as promised now on the 2011 list of county libraries which are admitted as under threat since the Endeavour House Meeting 
• "Award winning" Felixstowe now on the 2011 list of county libraries which are admitted as under threat since the Endeavour House Meeting
• Mobile Library Service - now part of the consultation which asks "should the local mobile library cease or be extended to replace community libraries"

But what is most telling is what is missing from the manifesto. Any mention at all of the plans to "divest" library services.  Based on this it is my view that these plans are undemocratic as the County Council simply have no mandate for them.