Library closure plan legal defeat cost Somerset County Council £200,000 (From This is The West Country)

What a grotesque waste of money. As if trying to shut our libraries down wasn't bad enough, the extremists at County hall have thrown away £200,000 of tax-payers money in the process. And these are the people who bang on about their financial acumen. What's worse is that Cllr Christine Lawrence, then in charge of libraries, took the trouble to write to the County Gazette earlier this year to 'clear up any confusion' about the amount of money wasted. In response to campaigners' claims that over £200,000 had been wasted, Cllr Lawrence insisted in her letter that the true cost was 'only' £68,742. Now we know that the campaigners were right all along and that Cllr Lawrence's letter was just another example of the contempt in which the Somerset Conservatives hold the electorate. Roll on May 2013 and our opportunity to relieve them of the chance to waste more of our money.

When did you last use a library Mr Rigby? (for real, not as a pr stunt)

I currently have 3 library books on loan. You'll probably say I have a vested interest now :-)

Would you be happy to pay a nominal fee for that loan? Leave library provision free for those that cannot afford books (but manage quite nicely for fags n cider)?

How do you see and justify library provision in the next 5-years when printed media is in massive decline?

I already pay for the library through my Council Tax. Library users appreciate not only the ability to borrow books (including children's books not well-catered for electronically) but also the access to the Internet provided and the DVD rentals. To misquote Mark Twain "Reports of the book's demise have been greatly exaggerated." None of which has anything to do with the subject of this story, the waste of £200,000 of taxpayer's money, a sum that would pay to keep our local library open for the next 13 years.

Mike Rigby wrote:
I already pay for the library through my Council Tax. Library users appreciate not only the ability to borrow books (including children's books not well-catered for electronically) but also the access to the Internet provided and the DVD rentals. To misquote Mark Twain "Reports of the book's demise have been greatly exaggerated." None of which has anything to do with the subject of this story, the waste of £200,000 of taxpayer's money, a sum that would pay to keep our local library open for the next 13 years.

Quite right Mike, but could you leave the party politics out of it & just concentrate on the councillors as whatever party they are affiliated with makes no difference as they're all in it for profit.
I myself do not use the library service but believe that everyone should have access to it and don't mind paying for it, on the other hand I do begrudge paying for disabled parking bays out of council tax when the majority of those using them could afford to pay!

Closing libraries is an insane idea put forward by people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

FreeSpeech? wrote:

Mike Rigby wrote:
I already pay for the library through my Council Tax. Library users appreciate not only the ability to borrow books (including children's books not well-catered for electronically) but also the access to the Internet provided and the DVD rentals. To misquote Mark Twain "Reports of the book's demise have been greatly exaggerated." None of which has anything to do with the subject of this story, the waste of £200,000 of taxpayer's money, a sum that would pay to keep our local library open for the next 13 years.

Quite right Mike, but could you leave the party politics out of it & just concentrate on the councillors as whatever party they are affiliated with makes no difference as they're all in it for profit.
I myself do not use the library service but believe that everyone should have access to it and don't mind paying for it, on the other hand I do begrudge paying for disabled parking bays out of council tax when the majority of those using them could afford to pay!

FreeSpeech. I'm pleased to see you support the principle of access to quality library services. I have no party politics; I'm an Independent. I am criticising the Conservatives on this issue at it is they, and they alone, that voted through the attempt to close libraries. I would be equally critical of other parties if they were behind such plans.

Guy Smiley wrote:
Would you be happy to pay a nominal fee for that loan? Leave library provision free for those that cannot afford books (but manage quite nicely for fags n cider)? How do you see and justify library provision in the next 5-years when printed media is in massive decline?

Guy

Library borrowers do pay a fee to borrow items other than books, but charging for the loan of a book would contravene current legislation. Although that law is nearly 50 years old, the current (and previous) governments have ruled out amending it.

The library provides an incredibly valuable service to the whole community and is rightly valued by many, including the vulnerable and isolated, by those who can't afford internet access or to buy new books and by many families across the county.

Although the Friends of Somerset Libraries achieved what many thought impossible in their legal tussle with SCC, they and other campaigners know that was just round one. Look out for the report on the review of Somerset's Library Service due on Tuesday (Nov 27th) and the decisions in Feb 2013 on the budget for 2013/14, to see what round two will bring.