Suffolk County Council: Debate on libraries turns into democratic car crash

Cllr Patricia O'Brien
Chairman of Suffolk CC

Yesterday's full Suffolk County Council spent a lot of time discussing libraries. To begin with there were questions from campaigners with Judy Terry reading prepared responses. Then I gave my speech to the Council for the so-called "debate" triggered by the 35 000 petition responses, followed by a speech from Liz Williams from Rosehill Readers. There were three short speeches from councillors in response and then Judy Terry replied saying our petition would be taken into account by cabinet and that was about it.

We then sat through some less than gripping business until there was finally a real debate on libraries on a motion put by the Labour Group. You can read an account by Sue Hall who is a library campaigner at the meeting or see Wordblog's re-publication of my live tweets for a flavour of what happened.

If you are still confused after reading these accounts I am not at all surprised!

The debate began with a straightforward motion from Labour:

This Council calls on Suffolk County Council Cabinet to give an assurance that no Library in Suffolk will be closed before 2013

Judy Terry then moved an "amendment" to this motion changing it to:

This Council calls on SCC Cabinet to retain the library network and continue to work with communities to ensure its long term sustainability and development

Labour raised concerns about the legality of this "amendment" which pretty much obliterated the whole text of the motion. The Monitoring Officer ruled that it was acceptable and debate began.

What then followed (which you can read in detail in the links above) was disorganised chaos. An amendment was proposed to the ammndment and the Chairman Cllr Patricia O'Brien appeared to have difficulty understanding the procedure. In the end a backbench Conservative member had to explain the procedure and what was happening to the Council as the Chairman increasingly lost her grip on the meeting.

In scenes that a second rate high school debating society would be embarrassed by we saw cheap political points being scored in front of a still packed public gallery full of library campaigners who had come wanting to see a real debate on libraries.

Several of the councillors who did speak admitted they hadn't read the proposal documents but did not appear to be embarrassed about speaking and voting about something they evidently did not understand.

Sandy Martin, Labour Leader called on the Council to vote against Judy Terry's ammendemt and to provide an assurance rather than an aspiration to keep libraries open.

Mark Bee appeared to decend into paranoia, accusing Cllr Stringer the Green leader of a conspiracy when he moved a simple ammendement to Judy Terry's motion inserting the word "existing" before "network". This, Cllr Bee claimed would "bind" Judy Terry and not allow any of the exciting innovations proposed to go ahead. Cllr Stringer understandably looked bemused at this suggestion.

Judy Terry spoke of the need for libraries to embrace technological changes with no sense of irony whilst her motion was being photocopied so it could be handed around the chamber on small pieces of paper...

Some Councillors began to blame library campaigners for turning the issue into a "political football" whilst they made cheap tribal political points against their opponents. Politics, evidently, in Suffolk is something the County Council think they have a monopoly on.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the Council voted for Judy Terry's ammendment, in fact they did so twice for reasons that are unclear. If the Administration wanted to try and rebuild the trust they admitted they had lost with library campaigners then this was the complete opposite of how they should have behaved.

It was like watching a democratic car crash.

The Administration had a chance to send a simple message assuring the people of Suffolk that libraries would stay open as their press release claimed. It failed to do so and as Sandy Martin said the only reasonable assumption from this failure is that all libraries are not safe. The County Council may as the cabinet papers say "aspire" to keep them open but that is a long way from an assurance.

Liz William's Speech on Libraries to the County Council

Dr Liz Willams questioning
Cllr Judy Terry

Dr Elizabeth Williams from Rosehill Readers spoke alongside me at the County Council today, here is the text of her speech...

Madam Chairperson Members of the County Council, Members of the public.

My name is Liz Williams and I live in Ipswich and I am here today to represent over three

and a half thousand people who signed the Rosehill library petition. Rosehill library on Tomlin road is the one that I use regularly, the one that I take my daughter to. But despite our petition, and a total in excess of 35 000 signatures across the county, I am not sure how much longer I will be able to say that Rosehill library is my local library. The 2011 Review of Libraries, released to the public last Thursday, says, and I quote:

The long-term approach to library provision in Ipswich and Lowestoft, would not require the remaining libraries in Ipswich (Rosehill, Stoke and Westbourne) and Lowestoft (Oulton Broad) to stay open.

The report goes on to say that the council:

…would be willing to discuss further with community groups how to minimise the costs of running these libraries, and how they might be able to stay open and reduce costs. (page 19)

So, lots of uncertainty ‘would not require’, ‘would be willing to discuss’, ‘how they might be able to stay open’. Hardly an unequivocal reprieve.

And what about the other libraries? As James pointed out in his speech 24 major centres and towns will each have a library- although these will, if possible, be co-located. What this will mean for existing libraries in terms of infrastructure and location is difficult to say. The remaining libraries 26 in total, if you exclude the four that Suffolk county council says are no longer ‘required’, face, I would suggest, an uncertain future. The council proposes four service options. These range from allowing existing libraries to continue, in a shared space, to the use of a mobile library, to community outreach. But these proposals raise more questions than they answer, including questions about funding and the future of library staff.

It should for example be noted that the mobile library service will also potentially be undergoing a review and consultation in coming months which could see fortnightly visits reduced to monthly. The third option is community outreach- taking library services to people and bringing people to a library. Again the details are vague. Does this mean that a library in the future in Suffolk may actually be a transport system? Not a place but a route or means of getting from A to B? Who knows? So many questions remain unanswered.

So, to return to the petition and the original consultation document which was released in January this spoke of 30% cuts and library closures if community groups didn’t come forward to save them. Juxtaposed with the information outlined above I am left wondering what has been achieved by the 35000 signature petition that we are debating here today, a petition which spoke of a wish to retain the library service as it is and to look for savings within the current system- something that has never been considered by the county council.

35000 people did not sign a petition supporting a change in management structures, cuts in the budget for buying books, job losses and a wholesale divestment to community groups. It was in protest against these proposals as they were presented in the consultation document that the petition was collected.

And where does the consultation document fit into this? As James has just made clear a resounding 80% of respondents did not support the changes it proposed. As we learnt from the Scrutiny Committee some of the bids were made under duress- not submitted because of support for or commitment to the idea of divestment, community groups running libraries and so forth. No, they were submitted by groups which felt that if they did not submit something then there library would close. We heard at lot at the Scrutiny Committee meeting about ‘the gun to the head’ which impelled groups to action. Is this what ‘consultation’ and good governance looks like in Suffolk?

And this for me is one of the ironies of this consultation process- something that the 35000 signature petition throws into sharp relief. The review and the three proposals that will be presented to the council cabinet next Tuesday use this small number of bids to support the county councils proposals. The vast majority of the consultation responses rejected this approach, 35000 people signed petitions rejecting this approach.

Meanwhile, those of us who have tried to raise legitimate concerns about the consultation process, about the problems with its methodology, about the research design which did not employ a sampling technique, which failed to include vulnerable, marginalized and equality groups so that their voices have not be heard by anybody, have in turn struggled to have our voices heard. Efforts by the Suffolk Library Campaign Umbrella Group to raise these concerns at the Scrutiny Committee were blocked.

And then there is the question that underpins much of this, namely the question of legitimacy. If our libraries are, in the future to be run by ‘community groups’ how will these groups be selected and regulated. To whom will they be accountable? In Rosehill we have two ‘community groups’. One The Friends of Rosehill Library has put in a bid to run the library. The other Rosehill Readers, of which I am a member, has campaigned against the divestment plan and against the idea of community groups running libraries in the place of our esteemed and valued library staff. So, which one of these groups is the true voice of Rosehill library users? Who will decide and what will this decision mean for local democracy and good governance.

35 000 signatures. We have spoken loudly. The county council says that it has been listening. But I wonder what has it actually heard?

Thank You.

My library petition speech at the County Council

James Hargrave outside
 Endeavour House

This is the full text of my speech to Suffolk County Council on 14th July, there may be some minor variations in delivery.

My name is James Hargrave and I live in Stradbroke. I am here today to represent more than 35 000 Suffolk residents who have signed library petitions across the whole County.

Most of these people signed a petition with identical wording: 

We the undersigned agree that Suffolk County Council have a duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service and believe that all 44 Suffolk libraries should be kept open and continue to be funded by and remain the responsibility of Suffolk County Council.

With headlines in the papers saying “All Suffolk Libraries to stay open” you might think that I could say thank you and then go home. You’re probably not going to be surprised that I have more to say than that!

But I am going to say "Thank You". Several libraries in Suffolk look to have a brighter future with some 25 looking to be reasonably safe now especially in Suffolk's towns.

I would also like to thank the Council's officers for doing a difficult job in handling what was clearly a considerably larger response to the consultation than expected and in producing a thorough vision document.

It is also right to acknowledge that this is a victory for the campaigners. Although this is not the end, by any means, of our campaign, which goes on. 

For 19 libraries the future looks less certain with "community support" being required to keep these libraries open. These are: Capel StMary, Clare, Debenham, Elmswell, Glemsford, Ixworth, Kedington, Kessingland, Lakenheath, Lavenham, Long Melford, Kesgrave, Stradbroke, Thurston, Wickham Market, Oulton Broad in Lowestoft and Rosehill, Stoke and Westbourne in Ipswich.

This will involve volunteers as well as the spectre of "double taxation" where local parish or district councils will raise their precepts to cover services that others in neighbouring Suffolk communities have provided through their county precept.

And that is the best case. No-one knows what extra contributions will be required and some communities might not be able to afford it and may still, despite the headlines, lose their library. 

The People of Suffolk have spoken. We want to keep all of our libraries open and run by the County Council. 

Out of 3,839 responding to the consultation 3,099 (four out of five) simply stated they wanted libraries to continue to be run as they are by the county council. 

Yet in the papers for cabinet we read:

"There is some support for in-house delivery from library users"

Some support? I bet if the Administration win the 2013 elections with such a massive percentage of the vote and the EADT writes a story saying there was "some" support from voters Mark Bee would probably be hurt by such an understatement. 

So we look to the Council to respect the outcome of the consultation and when people say they want services to remain broadly how they are now it is hard to see how the Council can achieve this and still cut the budget by 30%.

Already Suffolk’s spend per head of population on libraries is low. The fifth lowest in the country in fact. In 2009-10 this was £12.90 per head whilst down in Essex they spent £15.90, over in Cambridgeshire £14.80 and up in Norfolk £15.40. 

Is it really sustainable to cut this by nearly a third and still provide the same level of service?

I know that Judy Terry proposes the idea of some kind of social enterprise, arms length company, QUANGO, call it what you will to run libraries. She claims this will save money but as yet there has been no detailed business plan to demonstrate this and, more importantly, no explanation as to why the same savings can’t be made now whilst the service is managed by Suffolk County Council.

Divesting services doesn’t magically make them more efficient.

I hope we see a genuine comparison between keeping the service in house and running it at a distance before a final decision is made.

It is clear that a pragmatic best value model is more likely to take communities with you, but only if the Council recognise that to communities "value" is not just measured in money.

At the last meeting of the County Council Mark Bee made a strong speech saying there was to be a change here at the County Council and that he would listen to the people of Suffolk. 

Here is a chance to show that you are really listening. People in Suffolk are looking for a modern, knowledgeable, well organised County Council passionate about conserving the quality of life that so many clearly cherish. And Libraries, evidently, have an important part to play in this.

So I call on everyone present today to vote for the motion that is on the Agenda today to call on the Cabinet to give an assurance that that no library in Suffolk will close until at least 2013.

Library Campaign moves to the County Council

The fight to save Suffolk's libraries moves back to the County Council with two crucial meetings over the next 7 days.

Tomorrow, Thursday 14th July there will be a debate at the full County Council meeting triggered by the 35 000 petition signatures we collected across the County. I will be speaking at the meeting together with Dr Elizabeth Williams from Rosehill Readers as Lead Petitioners.

The Labour Group have also put forward a motion calling on the Cabinet to promise not to close any libraries until 2013 (when the next elections take place) so that should be an interesting debate!

Several members of the Save Suffolk Libraries Network will be present to ask questions and there will be a protest outside Endeavour House starting at 12 Noon. Rosehill Readers who are organising the protest say:

12 noon at Endeavour House, Russell Road, Ipswich come and join library campaigners and supporters from all over the county. Bring food & drink plus a library book or two for a picnic, library book swap, read-in, ‘Save Suffolk Libraries’ t-shirts, banners, press, TV, who knows? Let the Councillors know that you value your libraries!

The full text of my speech will be available on this blog shortly after it is delivered to the Council which starts at 2pm. Hopefully I will publish Liz's speech as well and Live Tweet as much as I can. Follow me on Twitter @Onlygeek

Next week on Tuesday 19th July comes the crunch decision at Cabinet. Several members of the Save Suffolk Libraries network have submitted questions and I will be present to Live Tweet the meeting.

How safe is my library in Suffolk?

I have produced a chart based on Suffolk County Council's new access proposal's that I summarised in my earlier Suffolk's Vision for Libraries blog post that shows how safe each Suffolk library is based on my understanding of the proposals.

Library	Category	Will there be a library in my community?	What about the existing library?
Aldeburgh	Town	Safe	May be moved
Beccles	Town	Safe	May be moved
Brandon	Town	Safe	May be moved
Bungay	Town	Safe	May be moved
Bury StEdmunds	Town	Safe	May be moved
Capel St Mary	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Chantry	Urban Needed	Safe	May be moved
Clare	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Debenham	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Elmswell	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Eye	Town	Safe	May be moved
Felixstowe	Town	Safe	May be moved
Framlingham	Town	Safe	May be moved
Gainsborough	Urban Needed	Safe	May be moved
Glemsford	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Great Cornard	Town	Safe	May be moved
Hadleigh	Town	Safe	May be moved
Halesworth	Town	Safe	May be moved
Haverhill	Town	Safe	May be moved
Ipswich	Urban Main	Safe	Safe
Ixworth	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Kedington	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Kesgrave	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Kessingland	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Lakenheath	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Lavenham	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Leiston	Town	Safe	May be moved
Long Melford	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Lowestoft	Urban Main	Safe	Safe
Mildenhall	Town	Safe	May be moved
Needham Market	Town	Safe	May be moved
Newmarket	Town	Safe	May be moved
Oulton Broad	Urban Not Needed	At Risk	Uncertain
Rosehill	Urban Not Needed	At Risk	Uncertain
Saxmundham	Town	Safe	May be moved
Southwold	Town	Safe	May be moved
Stoke	Urban Not Needed	At Risk	Uncertain
Stowmarket	Town	Safe	May be moved
Stradbroke	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Sudbury	Town	Safe	May be moved
Thurston	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Westbourne	Urban Not Needed	At Risk	Uncertain
Wickham Market	Key Service Centre	At Risk	Uncertain
Woodbridge	Town	Safe	May be moved