New Addington Library - Seeing through the spin.

The latest news is that New Addington have a new library, according to Cllr Pollard. The "news" was produced in both local papers. The Croydon Advertiser article didn't even make the online listings but is reproduced below.

Strikingly similar? They would be, as the text of both is lifted, almost word for word, from the council's own press release.

So, now to the truth.

What New Addington actually has is a co-located facility, including a library over two floors.

This was achieved by drastically reducing the adult education space in the old CALAT (Adult learning) building, now renamed the New Addington Centre, and locating the library in a shared space, along with other services.

The children have lost access to a secure enclosed garden area off their part of the library in the old library.

The children's area may be larger in the new setting, if you disregard the loss of the garden space, but both articles fail to mention the close proximity to the IT suite used by adults who look on to the children's area, unlike the librarians who have no station in the children's area and are situated at the counter by the main revolving doors, out of sight and ear shot of the children's section.  In the old library the staff were stationed in the centre and were fully accessible to the children using the library.

There was just one PC in the children's section of the new facility when it opened last week and not all PCs were in working order, something this library has in common with many other Croydon libraries.

The article reports,

"There will be a new stock of books as well as DVDs and talking books.
Following a public consultation more historical, crime and adventure novels were purchased."

Indeed there are new books but considering, how low the stock was run down in the original library, it is little wonder.  Take a look.

The before:

A purpose built library with easy access, surrounded by green space, set well back from the road, with ample parking and next door to the leisure centre.

with row upon row of empty shelving before closure ...

Note the seating area at the end,  just one of many dotted around the old library building.

And, the new co-located facility

With some newly purchased books, but hardly brimming with books and, if you take a closer look, the selection is not that great either.

The new books stand out a mile, although many of the older tattier books have been weeded out.

 Front on presentation of books, propped up without support, to fill the space.

And still full rows of empty shelving as book stock is not sufficient to fill the new low level displays in the new facility, that replaced the heigh units in the old library.

And to show how limited the stock is, here is the choice of titles by local children's author, Jean Ure. One new, one old.  Hmmm....Which to pick?

The adult books are housed upstairs, accessed via a lift.

The biggest plus though was that the library was well-staffed and, as always the staff went out of their way to greet visitors, help library users find items they required and to offer help and information.

And quite what the selection of new books was based, who knows.  If it was the survey undertaken some serious questions need to be asked. The survey was apparently available online and hard copy yet the report produced on the outcome is rather scant on detail, particularly number of respondents.

You might like to note, for instance, that the largest number of responses received to any question posed was just 57 adults, who responded to the question regarding which services are important to them.

And, even more stark is the figure for those who responded on behalf of younger library users. Just FOUR, or perhaps just THREE who attend activities responded.

With such a small response rate the other details and percentages are almost meaningless.

Did the council really replenish the now dire book stock that has been run down across the whole network on the thoughts and views of no more than 50 or so individuals? You can access the survey document here.

Take a look and let us know what you think.

#Croydon Defeated Libraries Motion - The facts

The motion put forward by Croydon Labour on libraries was defeated last night.  It is covered in the Croydon Advertiser:
Labour Party motion on Croydon's libraries is defeated,

in the Croydon Guardian here:
Croydon Labour group pledges to tear up libraries contract if they win 2014 local elections

and on Inside Croydon here:
Emergency meeting called on sell-off of Public Libraries
here:
 Questions Pollard must answer over library shambles
 and here:
Council accused of being out of control on libraries

What are the facts?

• Save Croydon Libraries Campaign represents the views of residents and we seek to hold Croydon to account. We were consulted but no one took account of the views expressed. We know what Croydon residents want as they spoke up in their thousands and we continue to collect views and information. We are non-party political.

•   We DO NOT support Labour's plans for Co-operative Trusts, as they report. We are yet to find a resident who understands what it means! The campaign has been given no information or consulted by Croydon Labour.

• JLIS have not pulled out of the contract, as has been reported.

• Croydon Council must allow the short-listed bidders to resubmit their bids under strict EU procurement rules. There are only GLS and Laing (JLIS) in the running.

• Croydon Conservatives are trying to downplay the seriousness of the collapse of the procurement process by referring to it as a delay, a pause or a hiccup. This will cause further delay and disruption to our library service, increase stress on staff who have worked under uncertainty for two years now, and will not come cheaply!

• The Conservatives have lost touch with their duty to serve the residents and for accountability. Cllr Sarah Bashford even claimed in the meeting last night that Cllr Pollard need not have made an announcement about the problem, which he referred to as "a small announcement" in the Budget meeting earlier this month, but could just have issued details in a press release. Cllr Lynne Hale said they were responding 100% as residents wanted!

• Croydon Labour are pressing for a Co-operative Trust model, without consultation, leaving residents confused and let down. At least the Conservatives went through the motions with their sham consultation!

• The Save Croydon Libraries Campaign has been used by Labour in their press release and this has been raised directly with them.  The Campaign will work with any political party or organisation in order to resolve the plight of our libraries and would encourage and support a cross party working group to discuss the issues before further grave and costly errors are made.

• Both parties are now acting without a mandate and this has got to stop!

Croydon residents are passively sitting and waiting to hear the outcome, confused by the misinformation in circulation, whilst our much loved library service decays under cuts by the back door and serious ongoing neglect.

We hope residents will stand up and be counted.  We must stop this as it is not what residents want!

Please let us know your thoughts and, more importantly, what you see as the next key move for Save Croydon Libraries Campaign. 

All information will be treated in confidence.

Email savecroydonlibraries@gmail.com

Follow us on twitter @SaveCroydonLibs 

Join us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/savecroydonlibraries/

Did Croydon break the law over library?

Croydon Council stand accused of breaking the law over its joint library agreement with Lambeth, an agreement that Croydon Council terminated.

Croydon's Labour Leader Tony Newman is quoted,

"We have advice that Croydon cannot unilaterally abandon the joint agreement and we have been told by Lambeth Council that this council has acted illegally."

Cllr Timothy Godfrey, Labour's shadow cabinet member responsible holds a letter from the DCMS which he claims indicates that the unique 112 year old Upper Norwood Joint Library agreement between Lambeth and Croydon can only be broken if both councils are in agreement.

Croydon's chief executive, Jon Rouse, refuted the claims but has agreed to the subject being debated on 2nd July, although what type of meeting this will be is still unclear as the details are not yet available on the council website.

Croydon Advertiser article, May 25 2012

This Croydon Advertiser article also touches on the catalogue of errors in Croydon's consultation process. We'll details this in a later post, thanks to the evidence passed to the campaign group by local residents.

Stop the privatization of Public Libraries: Civica pull out of Croydon/Wandsworth privatisatio...

As minuted in Wandsworth's Scrutiny committee papers of 19th April, Civica have withdrawn from the bidding process for Croydon and Wandsworth Libraries.  The campaign group has been aware of this but have been waiting for an official announcement from Croydon.

Alan Wylie's blog has the details, which you can read here.  Stop the privatization of Public Libraries: Civica pull out of Croydon/Wandsworth privatisatio...

That's Croydon, the council who gave residents every assurance that they would be keep informed all the way through the process.

That's Croydon, who the Croydon Advertiser exposed for spending £40K on a procurement consultant  after an advertisement was spotted for the post. This later post catalogues Croydon's record on transparency in this process.

Not looking good, is it?

Croydon spends £40K on library consultant

The Croydon Advertiser has covered the news that £40K is being spent on a consultant to oversee the outsourcing of all Croydon libraries. You can read the full article here. 

We encourage you to read the comments, including those of the campaign group:

“Anyone who wants more details can follow @SaveCroydonLibs @SaveSanderstead on twitter, the blog soslibrary.blogspot.com and website www.savesandersteadlibrary.co.uk 

We need to ask ourselves why is Croydon Council so shy to share any details of their plans. The council only consulted on six libraries, ignored the "do nothing" option and admit it was mainly the users of only those libraries who responded. They have denied residents the breakdown on 412 responses they say informed their decision and are outsourcing the whole network without consulting users of the other libraries. 

There is also the plight of Upper Norwood Library @SaveUNlibrary and the announcement that New Addington Library will close and move to a yet unknown part of the cramped accommodation within the CALAT centre.”

and the detailed response by Cllr Timothy Godfrey:

“Basically Croydon Conservatives have lost control of the budget. The Library budget is approx £8million a year. They run 12 libraries and one central library for this. Upper Norwood Library, run jointly with Lambeth costs £400,000 a year (it is far larger than a branch library) with £200,000 being contributed by Croydon. 

Given how popular all the Croydon libraries are, with residents keen to get involved and support their local library, this is a golden opportunity to devolve the running of the libraries to local library panels. Keep the staff on Croydon payroll. Devolve the library budget, just like the government did over 15 years ago to schools (LMS) and you could end up with big savings and involve the community in setting priorities, and help to grow library use. 

Based on the costs of the much larger Upper Norwood Library, a budget saving of at least £1.8million could be made. Here is the maths:
Croydon branch libraries 12 x £400,000 = £4.8millionCroydon Central Library and home book service = £1.2millionUpper Norwood Library Contribution = £200,000Total budget requirement = £6.2millionBudget surplus: £1.8million
Instead of spending £40,000 on an expensive consultant, the Council should work with the local community to release a new era in community run libraries.  

I have set these plans out at full council and have written about this on my blog (timothygodfrey.net) You can read the post in full here.  I have also has an article published on this on the website of the national Co-operative party (party.coop).

The Tory Council ignore these positive suggestions because they are only interested in selling our libraries off in one contract and not working with local Croydon communities."

The comments left clearly demonstrate that local residents view the council's plan as ludicrous.

Transparency and Accountability -The faceless, nameless Croydon spokesman speaks

Croydon library users have grown increasingly concerned about books being boxed up across the borough as no one has seen anything quite like it before.  Previously, any unwanted books have been put on public display for sale.

Croydon Council is aware of the concerns and have contributed comments to an article on the Croydon Advertiser website,  Croydon Council denies book sales mean closures. At the point of posting the website is down so we reproduce the article below. 

So let’s examine the facts.

The Advertiser reports that concerns, or as they put it, ‘rumours’, “have reached a crescendo in recent weeks after library users noticed books being sent away from libraries."

As a campaign group we are not aware of any library users being concerned about books leaving library premises, just a genuine concern about the visible effects of this unprecedented cull of book stock.

The Advertiser claims that a spokesman for the council stated  that the library service has simply changed the way it handles unneeded stock. This unidentified council officer claims that instead of trying to sell unused and tatty books to library users, libraries sell their books to company Revival Books, which recycles or donates the books.

We think this story again demonstrated the Advertiser’s unwavering trust that what they are told by the council is completely true and warrants no further investigation.

Here’s what Revival Books themselves claim to do. You can find Revival Books here: http://www.revivalbooks.co.uk/Site_3/Libraries.html, and we quote,

“We seek to find a second life for as many of the books as possible and we sell these in retail outlets or on the Internet.  Working with a paper recycling partner we recycle any books we do not use and these books are pulped for on-going use.”

So Revival Books do not, as the Advertiser claims to have been told by this faceless, nameless council spokesperson, just recycle or donate the books that they collect.  Where is the economic sense in that? Their prime motive is to sell off, for profit, any book stock they can through a network of retail outlets and on the internet. And if you click here you can see a list of all those currently for sale.

It’s not just the new practice of boxing up stock that is concerning residents, it is the sheer scale of the exercise that is causing alarm, evidenced by the appearance of rows of empty shelves in some branches and the complete removal of carousels, previously packed full of paperbacks, in at least one library. 

The Advertiser goes on to report that this faceless, nameless spokesperson claimed that,

 “the new approach generates money and means none of the books has to go to landfill.”

Surely this is a terrible admission that the council have been dumping all their excess books in landfill sites whilst expecting residents to recycle. Did the reporter not think to question this?

The faceless, nameless council spokesman goes on to offer,

"There aren't going to be any closures. There are clearly some people out there who are deliberately trying to raise concerns by getting library users needlessly worried about non-existent library closure plans."

Croydon Library Campaigners were first to break this story and we know residents have made direct contact with the Advertiser to pass information to them.  Why is it that the Advertiser declines to speak with the residents and campaigners highlighting these issues and swallows completely the clearly flawed offerings of a council spokesperson who is clearly unwilling even to be identified?

Let’s not forget either that it was the Advertiser who broke the story of New Addington Library closing, which we have already covered here http://soslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/01/no-libraries-closing-in-croydon-hip-hip.html. How can the same paper print something that directly contradicts their own exclusive about the New Addington closure?

The Advertiser is also the same paper to report positive progress on Upper Norwood Joint Library, which we covered here. Given the evidence it seems this is anything but the case.

And we also put our questions to Cllr Bashford, where we covered the issue of the concerns on the massive cull of book stock, which we reproduce again here:

Certainly the book stock being removed is not being replaced with anything like a similar volume of new stock.  No wonder residents and campaigners are concerned, and rightly so. 

If the council really wishes to allay residents’ fears wouldn't the easiest option be to give residents clear and correct information?  

No wonder this council spokesperson wished to remain nameless. Shouldn't this coyness to be named, coupled with all the glaring flaws in what he had to offer, have given rise to caution before the Advertiser went on to print yet more incorrect information?  We certainly think so. 

Questions for Cllr Sara Bashford

We wrote of our doubts regarding the veracity of this article in the Croydon Advertiser only yesterday.

You can read it here. 


Were we just a little cynical, we wondered?  But then  this seemingly unrelated article in the Streatham Guardian was brought to our attention, regarding the full Lambeth Council meeting, held on Wednesday 25th January 2012. 


Here, amongst the other details of council business and the plight of Streatham Library, 
is this statement,  

"Councillors also approved a motion condemning Conservatives at Croydon Council for their decision to withdraw funding the Upper Norwood Library, which is jointly run by both councils."

No wonder Cllr Sara Bashford was so keen to give the Croydon Advertiser another Croydon Council "exclusive" on libraries, trying to spin things in a more positive light.

Can Lambeth really be getting things so very wrong? Has Croydon really reversed its decision to withdraw from the management of Upper Norwood Joint Library, along with withdrawing any further financial support? We doubt it.

We will publish any comment Cllr Sara Bashford chooses to provide to make clear the situation. She has not engaged with campaigners so far but we remain open to hearing from her.  Let us and all Croydon residents know the real situation please, Cllr Bashford.

• What is the current situation with regard to Upper Norwood Joint Library and what financial commitment has been made, if any, post April 2012?

• And what is the exact situation with Croydon libraries in general? 

You gave the message that all libraries were reprieved, there would be no closures, but word reaches us that New Addington is to close.  It will be shoe-horned into limited space in the CALAT (Adult Ed) Centre, along with the Job Centre, an existing nursery and CALAT (who campaigners were told knew of the loss of half their teaching space of six classrooms BEFORE the consultation results were made public or move announced). It has been reported that you, as cabinet member with responsibility for libraries, took this decision without knowing what space might be available to accommodate the library. You could also not make any commitment as to to the level of  book stock that might be available in the new setting - suspected to be the foyer area with revolving door, making it unsuitable as insecure for those with young children.

A local group 'New Addington Pathfinders' seem to be allaying fears of concerned residents by advising that library users can order any book they desire. This has not been the case since at least April 2011, as some have already pointed out.  Added to this, any reservation from within the Croydon libraries network attracts a charge of £1.10 - quite a tall price to pay for a free public library service - not only pay for the privilege of reserving a book you wish to borrow because it is not held in your library but with the added cost in time in the delay accessing the item required. Some residents report delays of six to eight weeks, including books showing as being in stock in another Croydon library. If this policy has been amended we are sure Croydon residents will be delighted.

And why is the book stock being boxed up, across the borough?  Is it true that the lure of selling off stock at 10p an item to an external company, who will sell on what they can, and recycle what they can't, really the prime motive?  Is it a tactic to reduce the book stock to pave the way, as a sweetener, for those bidders who are successful in procuring the service, to allow them to make the claims to have improved the book stock of the service, as they will be able to regarding the now depleted permanent staffing? Or is it really a promoting of Croydon Libraries, that "less is more" - less choice leads to more borrowing?  Very interesting thinking indeed.  We have to share with you that this particular 'strategy' has elicited quite a bit of amusement, indeed belly-laugh, laugh out loud moments! - If only it were not such a serious issue, Cllr Bashford.

We are offering you the opportunity to speak with us, negotiate, communicate and give a clear position to Croydon. Please take up our offer.

If you would like Cllr Bashford to speak frankly, maybe you might like to prompt her by requesting she respond to this post.  You can email her at: sara.bashford@croydon.gov.uk

And do let us know how you get on.  Feel free to BCC or CC us in at soslibrary@hotmail.co.uk or add your comments here.

Please remember to add a name to your posts.  It adds more weight!

More Croydon spin - Upper Norwood Joint Library

The following post appeared on the Croydon Advertiser website early Saturday 28th January, reproduced below.

The article states that Croydon and Lambeth Councils have met to discuss the future of Upper Norwood Library. The future of the 111-year-old library, in Westow Hill, has been cast into doubt after Croydon terminated its joint agreement with Lambeth. It points out that a packed public meeting was held in November 2011 as a result of this, and that Lambeth Cllr Florence Nosegbe explained to all at this meeting, that,

"...she had been trying to get Croydon around the table, but to no avail."

The Croydon Advertiser goes on to state that,

"Now both parties have met and talks have been described as "positive".

But described as positive by whom? Certainly a strange journalistic style to employ. No direct quote from Lambeth's Cllr Nosegbe nor any comment from the very active campaign group for this library. Why could this be?

The only offering from the Advertiser, something that will not come as any great surprise to most Croydon residents, is a quote from Croydon's Councillor Bashford, dubbed "Book Token" Bashford by the sometimes acerbic but always astute blog, Inside Croydon, which has covered the Croydon libraries in multiple posts such as Croydon's timeline of deceit and the secret meetings and outsourcing plans for our libraries.

The Advertiser quotes Cllr Bashford,

"The latest update is there have been meetings in the second week of January between Lambeth and Croydon. We've talked about how we can move forward and it was very constructive. We haven't said we are closing the library, what we said is we can't work with Lambeth in the way we have in the past."

Many welcomed the news and saw it as a cause for celebration, given the dismal history of this much loved, well used, efficient library, jointly funded by Lambeth and Croydon Councils. You can find the full sorry story on the Upper Norwood Library Campaign site but here is just a snippet of the problems in recent years. A quick look at this and it can't  help escape the reader's notice that Croydon Cllr Eddy Arram is again referred to in less than favourable terms here, but we've covered the antics of this councillor on libraries before here and more recently here, where he seems to have earner the title of "gaff-prone Eddy".

But the following questions need to be posed:

Why only a comment from Croydon's Cllr Bashford and not from her Lambeth counterpart, Cllr Florence Nosegbe?

Why no comment from any one of the hundreds of people who turned out in force for the public meeting in November?

And perhaps, most curious of all, why refer to a meeting held two weeks prior?  Why the delay?  And why no mention of the public meeting held only the night before?

Could it be that this was a ploy to deflect from the focus of campaigners, holding an Emergency General meeting, only the night before this article was posted? Wouldn't this have afforded the Croydon Advertiser the ideal opportunity to assess views for themselves directly and to get real quotes from actual people involved on all sides? Wouldn't any decent journalist seek to get all views on the situation and attribute comments to real people, rather than just referring vaguely to,

".. talks being described as "positive". "

Well, we'd like to draw attention to the following statements made, apparently not available to the thorough team at the Croydon Advertiser but found by many residents and library campaigners within hours of their release. We think they shed a slightly less rosy hue on the situation and help to explain the reason for the carefully chosen words of Croydon Council.

 From Cllr Steve Reed, the Leader of Lambeth Council on Friday 27th January, 2012

"Lambeth Council supports the Upper Norwood Joint Library and we want to see it continue serving the local community into the future. We oppose the Croydon Conservatives’ attempt to close it down by withdrawing their share of the funding. Croydon’s claims that there has been any breach of the Agreement by Lambeth is untrue and is a smokescreen behind which they hope to hide their plans to close the library down. By cutting funding without a year’s notice we believe it is Croydon who have breached their legal obligations and the joint agreement.

Lambeth commits to maintaining our share of funding for this library. We call on Croydon to withdraw their immediate closure plans, withdraw their plans to sell off the building, and sit down with us and community representatives to agree a way forward. We would like to explore the idea of setting up a community trust to own and run the Upper Norwood Joint Library with funding from both Lambeth and Croydon councils. We believe that will safeguard the library from future attempts by Croydon Council to close this library.”

This was accompanied by a statement from Croydon Labour Leader Cllr Tony Newman, 

“Can I thank Steve and his team in Lambeth for standing alongside the community and Croydon's Labour Councillors in fighting Croydon Conservatives clear attempt to close the Upper Norwood Library, a community trust would secure the libraries long term future and remove the threat of Councillor Fisher ever holding a gun to the libraries head again."

Then there was this statement Croydon Cllr Sara Bashford gave to the Upper Norwood Library Campaign for the meeting held on Friday evening,

‎"I am pleased that discussions are now taking place between Croydon and Lambeth. We are discussing possible ways forward for the future of UNJL. Croydon's position on entering a new agreement has not changed but we hope the discussions will allow Lambeth to develop new management arrangements for the Library, in line with the report on libraries produced by their Commission recently. However, these discussions are on-going, so there is, as yet, no outcome to report."

And one for her counterpart on Lambeth Council, Cllr Florence Nosegbe,

"Unfortunately the discussions with LB Croydon have not progressed as far as I would have liked – as you can appreciate a number of Officers and Councillors were away over the Christmas period.

I know that a number of residents are worried about the future of the Library, however Lambeth’s position as I started when I attended the meeting in November 2011, has not changed. We still remain committed to the library and working with the campaign group, local residents and councillors to secure its future."

Perhaps Cllr Bashford and the Croydon's Conservative group are particularly keen to send out vaguely worded positive messages after Inside Croydon exposed the shocking approaches Croydon have been employing. You can read the full text of the Inside Croydon post here, including the text of a letter from Jon Rouse, Croydon's CEO, to his counterpart in Lambeth, outlining Croydon's firm decision, unreasonable time frames and pleas for discretion - which many interpret as pleas for secrecy. 

And let's not forget the actual words of Cllr Bashford in her statement (our emphasis), 

"Croydon's position on entering a new agreement has not changed but we hope the discussions will allow Lambeth to develop new management arrangements for the Library, in line with the report on libraries produced by their Commission recently. However, these discussions are on-going, so there is, as yet, no outcome to report."

Seems pretty clear what the real situation is when you balance the actual words of Cllr Bashford with those of  all the others and pit them against this flimsy article by the Croydon Advertiser, don't you think?

Image courtesy of Phil Bradley at  http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5253/5398040089_3b76b1e464_b.jpg

No libraries closing in Croydon! Hip hip hooray!

No libraries closing in Croydon! Hip hip hooray!

This is the very positive message, delivered by Cllr Sara Bashford, and confirmed by Croydon Central MP, Gavin Barwell.  This couldn't be further from the truth.

A resident, who is a library campaigner, has been taken to task for tweeting about the Inside Croydon post, that details information about closures.

You can read the full blog here.

Mr Barwell is not known for his courtesy on twitter and we've witnessed many heated exchanges with other tweeters, including national library campaigners we follow, such as the indefatigable Shirley Burnham who seemed shocked that Mr Barwell was being so discourteous and so unwilling to engage with the campaign group. It is quite clear that Mr Barwell has also almost systematically ignored replying to any libraries questions put to him on twitter, such as the one above from Andrew Pelling, or from others for that matter, as the following example demonstrates:

When residents or campaigners ask for clarity, they are ignored.  Yet finally, Mr Barwell was prepared to tweet, and we reproduce it here.

Many noted the careful wording - the use of "branch" libraries in this tweet.

The council has sought to focus on the "all libraries are saved" message by reinforcing that none are closing, and Mr Barwell was certainly happy to reinforce this message in his tweet.

Unfortunately residents and campaigners are very cynical as they believe they were not listened to in the consultation process and have since noticed the service has been silently eroded through  the loss of many of our professional librarians and experienced staff.  Volunteers promised for the Summer BookTrail didn't materialise, some events have been cancelled and residents struggle to obtain clear information about activities running.

Then campaigners became increasingly concerned that residents began reporting a cull of book stock over some months.  Library after library were clearing their shelves of books, these were being boxed up, and all without explanation.  It seems, once again, Inside Croydon were the first to receive some information on this and you can read the post here.

So while we accept that Croydon libraries are still open, we have reduced staffing of experienced assistants and qualified librarians, a catalogue of problems caused by this, library events cancelled and attempts to enlist volunteers thwarted, leading to further problems.  Now we have the removal of book stock, undertaken silently and without explanation. But at least our libraries are open.

And then this.

The Croydon Advertiser was given information by Cllr Bashford that New Addington Library is, in fact, closing.  You can read the full post here http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/Closure-New-Addington-Library-building-far-says/story-14437221-detail/story.html  As you can see from the comments, New Addington Pathfinders, the so called independent voice in New Addington, are already on board and appear open to the plans.

It seems they are little concerned that Cllr Bashford is unable to assure what book stock will be on offer.  As they say, these can be ordered.  Could it be though that Pathfinders are unaware of the problems across the borough with reservations and transfers? Certainly other residents are aware, as this comment on the post demonstrates.  How do Pathfinders think this new, more cramped space, will do any better?

They seem not only open to, but almost thankful, that the council is sharing this information before and  not after the closure and move.  Are they really not aware of what is going on, on their doorstep?  The CALAT centre in New Addington has been unable to produce an up to date brochure of courses because they have lost teaching space in order to accommodate this move. That's not just courses for leisure but courses run that provide residents with life skills such as basic literacy and numeracy, offering a gateway to improved opportunities and possible employment. The job centre will also be accommodated at the CALAT centre.

Just exactly what space is going to be available to accommodate this library that Cllr Bashford assures will offer the same level of service, as is currently on offer in a purpose built library, which even includes a secure garden area?

The article goes on to explain that the council will not be consulting the residents until after the decision has been taken.  In Cllr Bashford's own words,

 " When we have exact plans we will find out what works best for residents",

 as is the way with Croydon consultations -  plan first, consult after. But perhaps the most damning statement Cllr Bashford makes is that, in referring to the comparable space available at the CALAT Centre and the existing library,

"We do not know what the square footage available will be in comparison with the library."

So the closure of a well used, purpose built library is decided without any consideration of the available space in the proposed new venue. It hardly seems there is any rigour to the decision process or any regard for how a service might cope in the limited space available.

No wonder CALAT cannot advertise courses, no wonder the library is telling enquirers there is no forward plan for events and no wonder Croydon's Cllr Bashford has been forced to make this rather half-hearted announcement about, yes, a closure.

Could it be that this is merely the half-way step to setting up another lucrative deal with developers to offer the prime library location in New Addington up for grabs to the highest bidder, perhaps a bidder already lined up? There has been talk for years of a supermarket such as Tesco's in New Addington. Could it just be that the CALAT move is merely an interim measure, with any developer having to provide a library facility within the complex that they build, just like Sainsbury's in Selsdon, in the ward that Cllr Bashford represents?

Whatever the plan, New Addington are being sold short with a poorly thought out plan to cram so much into an already well used space which is the current CALAT building.

But perhaps Mr Barwell's reference to no branch libraries being closed was really intended to mask the quite shocking revelation about Upper Norwood Joint Library, exposed today by Inside Croydon.  Read the latest here: http://insidecroydon.com/2012/01/16/rouse-tells-lambeth-to-plan-closure-of-library-in-secret/


No wonder Mr Barwell is so keen to discredit and expose Save Croydon Libraries campaigners, as he tweeted today:

It seems that Croydon library campaigners and bloggers such as Inside Croydon are just a little too close to exposing the truth.

We dread to think what will happen next.  Watch this space.

The fight for libraries continues - Croydon and UNJL

Two letters appeared in last week's Croydon Advertiser.

Councillor Wayne Lawlor's letter makes the case that the appointment of Conservative Councillors is a betrayal of the wishes of local people, residents who elected Labour councillors as their representatives.

This is followed by a letter from Mike Warwick, Crystal Palace Community Association (CPCA), that sets out clear concerns regarding the stance taken by Croydon's Conservative-led Council and the possible motives behind this.