My Speech at the Save Suffolk Libraries March

A big thank you to the fantastic Rosehill Readers for organising the march today, they did a great job!

I’m James Hargrave and live in Stradbroke and have been part of the campaign to save the library in our village.

Back before Christmas there was a deal on the table between Stradbroke Parish Council and Suffolk County Council. The County Council would give the Courthouse building to the Parish and the Parish Council would contribute around £900 a year towards running the library. That was the agreed deal.

This would have meant increasing the parish council element of the Council Tax - effectively “double taxation” but Stradbroke would still have a library and it would be affordable.

All that changed on 18^th January when Suffolk County Council produced their so-called consultation document that listed 29 libraries that would be closed unless they could be, in Suffolk County Council’s Orwellian language “divested”.

Stradbroke was on the list and after many enquiries from the Chair of the Parish Council it was evident that SCC has reneged on the agreement. Subsequently Roger McMaster, Head of Suffolk libraries (who has since resigned) ended up apologising to the Parish Council in front of a packed meeting room with hundreds of Stradbroke residents for - HIS WORDS- “misleading” the parish.

The full extent of the situation became clear. Suffolk would still give the building (and all its bills) to the parish and would pay for the IT and books. The parish would “only” have to pay staffing and other costs of some £17 000 to £20 000 a year. The whole council’s budget is only £24 000!!

This was clearly impossible.

Then a group of Stradbroke residents became aware of the “National Day of Action” for libraries on Saturday 5^th February and we realised nearly 500 libraries across the UK were at risk. We met in a pub and planned a day of action, set up websites, Facebook groups, Twitter accounts and printed good old fashioned leaflets and then we turned up on the day with no idea how many people would be there.

The response was amazing and an estimated 250 people turned up to pack the tiny library and be the first of over 750 signatures we got on our petition. This 60% of the 1250 residents of Stradbroke.

On this day we made two videos that you can still see on our website at http://www.stradbroke.org.uk one video was asking simply why the residents came along and why they wanted to save their library. It is an incredibly powerful and moving film.. Ordinary people talking about why they love and rely on their library.

The other video is also very powerful but for different reasons! It is a video of myself and the Chair of Stradbroke Parish Council talking to our local County Councillor Guy McGregor who is a member of Suffolk County Council’s cabinet and voted for the cuts. He didn’t want to speak to me and had no real answers to how the library could be kept open and where the money would come from.

So we pressed on and held a big public meeting to which Guy McGregor and Roger McMaster were invited. The Community centre was packed and we showed the video of residents speaking at the start of the meeting, The mood of the meeting was clear. Stradbroke residents wanted to keep their library and everyone present thought Suffolk County Council should fund it.

At that meeting Ann Kerr the Chairman of the Parish Council gave a moving speech. Annie is here today and she has been a fantastic member of the campaign to save the library. I want to end by reading a portion of her speech (which you can read in full on the Stradbroke website) which she addressed to the Head of libraries, Our County Councillor and the residents she represents. Annie began by saying:

I think Suffolk County Council is threatening and bullying the small towns and villages with the closure of their libraries. The whole process is essentially undemocratic. If you happen to live in a relatively affluent community it maybe that a benefactor will come forward to provide some or all of the funding required. If not your library could close

But what got the biggest cheer in Stradbroke were her words on the so-called “big society”. Annie said:

Finally, I would like to comment on the concept of the ‘Big Society’. I call this an absolute insult. Villages, towns and cities all over England are more that capable of being a big society. We have been doing it for centuries…we do not need any lectures from the Government or Suffolk County Council about the big society. It happens here every day, every week and every year.

What the people of Stradbroke, and everyone here wants from Suffolk County Council is for them to listen to the thousands of people who have signed petitions and gone on marches to fill the “gaps” of their flawed consultation. We don’t want our intelligence insulted by claims to be empowering communities and “doing things differently” when in the real world on the ground these are fancy words for cutting services and closing libraries.

We want Suffolk to remove the threat of closure and to continue to fund the library service that is a lifeline to many and part of what makes for, never mind a big society, but a civilised society!

Thank you.

Link

Chair of Stradbroke Parish Council Ann Kerr's speech

Save Suffolk's Libraries March in Ipswich Tomorrow 2nd April 11am Endeavour House

Join the Save Suffolk Libraries March in protest at the planned divestment of Suffolk Libraries.

11am Saturday 2nd April (tomorrow)

Endeavour House, Ipswich

Full Details

Jeremy Pembroke quits as Suffolk County Council leader as Andrea Hill sends incredible two page rant to staff

Andrea Hill and Jeremy Pembroke
Photo: EADT

This morning Jeremy Pembroke confirmed that he is to quit as Suffolk County Council's leader. In a live interview with BBC Radio Suffolk's Mark Murphy he claimed that he had been planning to "retire" since December. He denied that his resignation had anything to do with recent problems facing the County Council.

Pembroke claimed that he wanted a younger person (he is soon to be 70) to take over and give them chance to get established before the 2013 elections.

He insisted that the "New Strategic Direction" will remain in place and defended the appointment of Andrea Hill. Listeners to BBC Radio Suffolk did not sounds so convinced with one describing his departure as "rats leaving a sinking ship".

Sandy Martin, Labour Group Leader on SCC expressed serious concerns that politicians are not in charge of Suffolk County Council and pointed to the departure of Graham Dixon and EricWhitfield as being especially worrying. The clear impression is that Andrea Hill is running Suffolk County Council with the elected politicians essentially "nodding dogs".

Crossing with Pembroke's departure Andrea Hill's monthly missive to staff was published. Last month this prompted my open letter to "Misunderstood" at Endeavour House but this month a whole extra page has been added to the magazine to accommodate an incredible two page rant about how unfair the attacks on her and Jeremy Pembroke are.

You really have to read the full text on wikisuffolk to appreciate this but some highlights are the suggestion that that this is "the politics of envy" and:

Let's be clear, Suffolk County Council is now at the leading edge of new thinking in the public sector. We have an inspiring and bold Cabinet who have placed us there. It's not an easy or comfortable place to be because we are challenging the old ways of doing things; we are developing a new model that will unsettle the status quo and, as we all know, any change makes ordinary people uncertain (my emphasis)

On Pembroke Hill is especially glowing describing him as:

the most honest, visionary, trustworthy politician I have ever worked with, is, in my view, being unfairly attacked by a local newspaper. But we also have advocates and supporters both in central government, and local government, who are looking to Suffolk as a future role model. You won't see them in the media - and you might well ask why - but be sure they exist.

 Having worked in IT for many years, being on the "leading edge" is something the wise avoid. One might suggest the reasons that others are not mentioning their interest in the Suffolk "experiment" is so they can disassociate themselves from it when it all goes wrong or "crashing high speed off the edge of a cliff" to quote Sandy Martin.

Jeremy Pembroke about to resign as leader of Suffolk County Council?

Jeremy Pembroke

UPDATE - 12 Midnight the EADT have confirmed that Jeremy Pembroke has resigned as leader of Suffolk CC and will retire from politics at the next elections.

It is becoming increasingly likely this evening following on from the sudden departure of two senior council officials and following a meeting between Suffolk Tory MPs and the Tory council leadership that Jeremy Pembroke is about to resign as Leader of Suffolk County Council.

He is apparently to appear on Mark Murphy's Breakfast Show from 7am on BBC Radio Suffolk tomorrow to "discuss his future as leader" and there are strong rumors that he is leaving.

This follows mounting disquiet about the conduct and remuneration of Andrea Hill, CEO of Suffolk County Council and mounting public concern about cuts implemented as part of the "new strategic direction" including school crossing patrols, the eXplore card and threats to close libraries across the county.

More power to Andrea Hill as two senior County Council staff leave

Graham Dixon

Two senior Suffolk County Council staff suddenly left under unexplained circumstances yesterday. Graham Dixon, Director of Resource Management and one of his Assistant Directors Eric Whitfield, Head of Scrutiny and Monitoring and holder of the key statutory "monitoring officer" role that is supposed to ensure the Council conducts its affairs fairly and legally.

It is not known why they left although apparently Mr Whitfield had been ill. Staff and councillors were informed by email last night and it appeared to come as a complete shock to most.

For the foreseeable future the Resource Management role will be undertaken by Ms Hill and although Suffolk CC are at pains to point out she will not be paid any more this clearly strengthens her power at Endeavour House.

Eric Whitfield

In fact two of the remaining four Directors and the Deputy Monitoring Officer are now temporary "interim" staff who hold office more or less at Ms Hill's pleasing. This cannot help with the perception that too much power is in Ms Hill's hands.

It seems deeply ironic that at the end of a month that has seen widespread public criticism of Ms Hill not only is she still in post but appears to have increased her power at Endeavour House.

Protest and what actually happened on Saturday

Since the March for the Alternative this weekend there has been considerable comment and debate in the press about what happened. In order to comment or debate about a subject it generally helps if the facts are established first. Sadly much if not most of the debate seems to be taking place with a set of assumptions in place that appear to be completely incorrect.

What is difficult in such a large event as Saturday's is to work out what really happened. I attended the march and like most people who did saw nothing but an entierly peaceful if slow and noisy march. Protestors of all ages most of whom the Daily Mail would even describe as "normal" joined together to protest against the scale and speed of cuts taking place by the coalition government. There were quite a few children some quite young, younger than I would have brought along but more due to the speed and numbers of people than any other concerns.