Press Office called in to rescue "Epic Fail" Suffolk Library Consultation...

Cllr Judy Terry

Suffolk County Council's library consultation is clearly not going to plan. In fact it is going so badly that they have called in the Press Office to try and rescue it. Given the press office's recent major own goal over the "geatergate" affair things must be really bad.

As I mentioned in my post "Orwellian Doublethink and Suffolk County Council" Suffolk have, shall we say, an interesting relationship with the truth. In any event they are trying to spin what has been what might be described  as the "Epic Fail" of a consultation process that even Andrea Hill accepts hasn't gone to plan.

You can read the Press Release from Suffolk County Council here where it is stated that:

Councillor Judy Terry, Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet lead for the consultation, welcomed the response from over 1300 people and groups so far. But she said she wanted to receive even more input.

Some examples of "innovative ideas already received" are listed such as:

A local school looking to take on their library whilst a local pub wants boost public internet access by creating an internet café

Although there is nothing that sounds very concrete and there is no mention at all of conversations with large American companies or the public outcry that has seen thousands attend public meetings, sign petitions and hundreds take to the streets in protest.

A large number of the 1300 responses are clearly not what Suffolk wanted to hear, hence the call for more responses.

In parallel a series of one to one meetings have now been planned at 19 libraries, it seems unclear why these 19 have been chosen and not the other 25 although it is interesting that the list includes the so-called "county libraries" that were previously regarded as "safe".

The press release ends with some interesting quotes from Cllr Terry that continue to demonstrate that this is not really a consultation at all:

“The days of county councils running public services as they always have are on the way out. We’re looking for new and creative ways of running Suffolk’s libraries, which nowadays serves a much broader function than they used to, and we need the help of Suffolk people. I’m urging everyone and anyone to let us know if you think there is a way to run your local library in a different and more cost-effective way.

You will notice that if you don't agree with this and think that Suffolk County Council should continue to run libraries then Cllr Terry simply doesn't want to know...