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Sunday, 18 September 2011

Cabinet decision on Croydon libraries imminent

So it seems Croydon plan to go ahead and work with Wandsworth to outsource libraries. The situation has been picked up again by national campaigners and the latest information appears on Public Libraries News: A million pounds a year: the cost of outsourcing libraries in Croydon


Decision to be made at Cabinet Meeting, which is open to the public.

Monday, 19th September 2011
Town Hall
Katherine Street
Croydon
at 6.30pm

Come along and observe the meeting from the public gallery, hear the debate and show your support for libraries. Entry is usually permitted from 6.15pm.

Papers for the meeting can be found here on the Council's website and hard copies will be available on the night.






2 comments:

  1. Good luck tomorrow. We in Oxfordshire will be nearing a similar point in the next couple of months. Are you preparing to lobby all of the councillors to get the decision called in? I have no idea what the Croydon council rules are this but in Oxfordshire my understanding is any 6 councillors is enough to trigger the scrutiny process. Again it is difficult because the leading party tend to dominate the scrutiny committees and I don't know the make up of Croydon council. They are supposed to be independent and have the whip removed but I suspect like all things politics gets in the way of common sense.

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  2. Sorry for the delay in uploading your comment!

    Unfortunately the proposal went via Scrutiny before going to Cabinet and even Scrutiny were unable to defer the decision to outsource in order to give all residents the opportunity to have a say (as the views of the users of only 6 libraries were targeted in the original consultation, yet all 13 are now involved)and to allow time to explore making savings without the need to outsource.

    To date the council are yet to release a clear statement to residents that makes clear all 13 libraries are subject to the outsourcing exercise.

    Cuts made under the guise of an "Internal Reshuffle" have realised savings already. We regularly hear from users of libraries all over Croydon of the devastating effects of these cuts as the remaining staff are put under even more pressure to cope.

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