The REAL cost of Privatisation

Thanks to library campaigner Alan Wylie for the following link.  It certainly puts the risks of library privatisation in perspective.
http://www.calaborfed.org/userfiles/doc/2011/blog/LibraryPrivatizations.pdf

Is this really a risk worth taking?

With Croydon Labour already threatening to cancel the JLIS deal and with Croydon Conservatives potentially only having a year left in control, the fall out from this deal on the taxpayer is potentially enormous.

This will affect us all - library user, library supporter or not.

Surely it is time to pause for thought or we may all be paying the price for an ill-considered decision for years to come.

Cllr Pollard doubts his own decision on #Croydon libraries

According to a press release that was only uploaded over the bank holiday weekend, Cllr Tim Pollard is calling his own decision in for scrutiny. 

"Yeah but, no but" decisions

The press release reads, 

"Savings and improvements to services will result from a fresh recommendation to appoint John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS) as preferred bidder to run the council's library service.
The decision to go with the firm is now to be examined by Croydon Council's scrutiny committee. 

JLIS was originally chosen as the authority's preferred library-operating partner after its bid was judged to have been the best, based on an assessment of price and quality. However, the company made a request for a last-minute variation to its obligations concerning employer pension contributions. 

In line with EU contract tendering rules, the council therefore reopened bidding to other final-stage bidders. 

Two revised bids were subsequently received and carefully assessed. As a result, the council will secure the most economically advantageous terms while, at the same time, protecting the quality of services currently on offer. 

Councillor Tim Pollard, the cabinet member responsible for the service, will be ensuring that there is an examination by the cross-party scrutiny committee of how the council reached this decision. This will enable those with an interest in the project to fully understand how the evaluation team reached its conclusions.

The council undertook the tendering project after a public consultation exercise that came at a time when libraries across the country were coming under increasing threat of closures.
The move continues to be seen as the best means of ensuring there will be no risk of Croydon losing any of its libraries. 

Councillor Pollard said: "I'm very pleased that we've reached this point so quickly after the recent delay. My intention now is to ensure that the basis of my decision is examined fully, and that's why I'll be ensuring this matter is taken to our scrutiny committee. 

"This will give councillors from both parties the opportunity to understand how we've arrived at this point and what the benefits will be of entering into this new contract." 

Subject to the decision-making process reaching its conclusion, it is anticipated that the new service will start from the beginning of October."


Having raised questions as to  why Cllr Pollard was so shy to announce his decision, taken late before a bank holiday weekend at the start of Croydon school's half-term break,  with local residents also raising questions  and Croydon Labour threatening to cancel the contract should they gain power in 2014,  it seems even Cllr Pollard has lost his nerve and called his own decision in for scrutiny.

You really could not make it up! 

Cue yet another Private Eye article.

The scrutiny committee failed to take any notice of the body of evidence from the politically neutral Save Croydon Libraries Campaign last time and are likely to do so now, but if Cllr Cummings (who promised to get in touch, but failed to do so) wishes to take this evidence on board, or any other councillor sitting on scrutiny wishes to, please get in touch.  Email us at savecroydonlibraries@gmail.com

Questions posed on #Croydon libraries decision

The following correspondence from Sean Creighton, a resident from Norbury, has been emailed to all Croydon councillors.  It is reproduced here with his permission. Sean raises a number of issues.

Dear Councillor,

I have read the report on the outcome of the re-tendering of the Library Services and Cllr Pollard’s recommendation that the bid from Laing be accepted. 

Those of you who were at the Overview Committee in December may recall that I was given permission to speak to the Committee.

I have a number of questions which seem to me to justify a further meeting of the Oversight Committee to review the report and recommendation. 

1.   Why are the  overall sums of both bids not included – these cannot be regarded as commercially confidential?

2.   Given the Overview Committee decision on 5 December ‘That future commissioning reports should contain as much information in Part A of the agenda as possible in order to allow Members and the public to know whether the commissioning exercise meets the Council’s commissioning strategy’, why has this not be complied with in the report?

3.   Why is there no discussion on the implications of the Social Value Act on assessing the bids which is now in force and which the Council has a policy on?

4.   Why is there no discussion on the outcome of the pensions issue which caused the re-tendering?

5.   Have the union reps. been consulted on the TUPE process under the terms of the revised bid and on the implications for pensions?

6.   Why is there an option to extend the contract for 8 years beyond the initial 8 years?

7.   Is quarterly monitoring sufficient especially in the first year? Would it not be better to monitor monthly and then review frequency after the first 12 months?

8.   How much did the firm of Sharpe Pritchard cost to advise on the procurement process?

9.   How much has the total procurement process cost to-date?

10.  Should an apology be made to staff re-the use of the word ‘stuff’ in describing them? Obviously a typo but one that suggests a degree of contempt?

11.   Given the opposition of local people to outsourcing the Library Service, given the contract start date is thought to be October, and  given the local elections will be in May next year, what is the justification to proceed to outsource, when both political parties can set out their proposals in their manifestos and ask the voters to choose between the two set of proposals?

If you do decide to convene the Overview Committee in order to explore these and other questions, it would be helpful publicly if both bidders were invited to do short presentations and be questioned by Committee members in open session, and that they be asked before hand to agree to lift ‘commercial confidentiality’. The Library Service will need to be run in an open and transparent manner otherwise there will be continuing suspicion about how the service is being run. Therefore for example the monitoring reports should be seen by a Committee on public agendas. 

JLIS’s views (January 21012) on running libraries to the House of Commons Committee looking at Library closures can be seen on http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmcumeds/writev/library/lib076.htm

Yours sincerely,

Sean Creighton 

Norbury resident

What are your thought on the matter? Please feel free to leave your comments. 

And please spread the word! 

#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/

Croydon' s Extraordinary Meeting on Libraries

Consult? Nah! Croydon Labour know best

Labour plan to impose Co-operative Trusts on the network of Croydon libraries; no consultation or public engagement, presumably no consultation with staff.

 How many residents visit the Croydon Labour site? Not many by the looks of it if the campaigners and residents shock at this announcement is anything to go by. The campaign has even spoken to staunch Labour supporters who had no idea this was the plan.

But, proudly displayed on the Croydon Labour website is the following undated entry.

Libraries safe with Labour 

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR CROYDON LIBRARIES – LABOUR’S VISION FOR 2014 

Over the last 2-years the Conservative-run Council in Croydon has run down our libraries and threatened closure of 6 branches. This on top of closing the Mobile Library Service. 

The Conservatives are currently in a needless dispute about Upper Norwood Library; with the possibility of closure still on the table. 

Today Labour announces that it will pick up the work of the last Labour Council (1994 – 2006) which had a fantastic record of investment in Croydon’s Library service, including new buildings at Broad Green, Selsdon and Ashburton; full refurbishment of Upper Norwood Library (with Government funding) and initiation of Thornton Heath Library refurbishment project. All libraries made fully accessible.  

Since 2006, Tory run Croydon Council has not initiated any new investment in the Library service. Instead, it has closed the mobile library service; reduced staffing and allocated a £250,000 budget to privatise the whole library service. 

Key announcements:1) Labour will not be committed to the Library Service being run by a private company or another local authority2) Labour calls on the Conservative-run Council to cut the wasteful back office spend to make savings in the Library budget. In 2010 / 11 Croydon Council spent 44.78% of the Library budget on back office services: like computers, call centres and building maintenance etc.3) Labour is committed to a professionally run Library Service in each community. 4) Labour is committed to establishing local Co-operative Community Library Trusts that will be a partnership between residents, users and staff in running, managing, enhancing and developing Croydon’s libraries5) Labour is committed to local libraries reflecting local communities; ensuring that each library will develop in its own unique way alongside core library services 6) Labour has written to the bidders and the Council solicitor making the above points 

Councillor Timothy Godfrey, Shadow Cabinet Member for Libraries said:
“Residents have shown that they support their local library time and time again. It is time the Council stepped up and actually involved local people in protecting and developing their local library service. Privatisation is simply a lazy approach.”

Councillor Godfrey added 
“Those organisations that are bidding to run our library service now know in clear terms what Labour's plans are. If the Tories press ahead with this privatisation, we will be there in 2014 to pick up the pieces and re-build our library service in a cost effective, efficient way that engages properly with local people”

Upper Norwood Library again.
But do Labour show any real interest in Croydon's 13 libraries?

 Could there be any flaw in the plan? 

• Residents have not been consulted at all on this proposal. At least Croydon Conservatives went through the motions.

• Croydon Labour claim residents and library campaigners support this plan, yet no one can locate these individuals. Save Croydon Libraries Campaign is recognised, both within and outside Croydon.  Who is this other campaign group no one has heard of and who are these residents remaining so silent, only talking to Labour?

• And, most importantly, when they state, " Labour is committed to establishing local Co-operative Community Library Trusts that will be a partnership between residents, users and staff in running, managing, enhancing and developing Croydon’s libraries" when did residents ever indicate they wanted to run or manage our libraries?

Pros and Cons of Trusts

In light of Labour's plan to run all Croydon libraries as Co-operative Trusts, without consulting residents, the following information might be useful to residents, library users and the library campaigners.

Public Libraries News sets out the pros and cons of Trusts.

Pros of Trusts

Cons of Trusts

Residents were consulted on the closure of individual libraries and that is what they fought for. At no time was the Co-op Trust model put forward by residents. Croydon Labour have failed to consult on their proposal.

And we are still looking for the residents and campaigners Labour claim are backing this plan, without luck so far.

Does anyone know?

Can you believe #Croydon Labour on libraries?

A press release was issued today and kindly forwarded to the Campaign group as it had not shared directly with us. 

This press release will anger people further.  We are the campaign group in Croydon and no one has heard what we have to say so it is unbelievable that the press release is entitled "Labour Listens to Library Campaigners"

Here is the contents of the press release in its entirely.

LABOUR LISTENS TO LIBRARY CAMPAIGNERS
Croydon's Labour Leader Cllr Tony Newman and Lambeth Leader Cllr Lib Peck joined forces with Upper Norwood councillor Pat Ryan this week to restate Labour’s commitment to the much loved and treasured Upper Norwood Joint library. Labour Leader Councillor Tony Newman said:  

"Labour councillors have forced an Emergency meeting on Croydon Council for this Monday to defend all of Croydon's libraries; fighting Tory plans to privatise our valued libraries and their staff. The Tories plans to sell our libraries will cost council tax payers in Croydon more money and it will rip the heart out of the libraries vital role in our community. These are not my words but those of library users and campaigners in Croydon.”  

Labour’s spokesperson for Libraries Councillor Timothy Godfrey said: 

"The Upper Norwood Library Trust is a model that the incoming Labour council of 2014 is determined to see rolled out across to other libraries in Croydon. It will give the community a real say in how our libraries are run and what services are provided there." 

Leader of Lambeth Council Councillor Lib Peck said: 

"I was delighted to join Croydon Labour colleagues to reaffirm our commitment to Upper Norwood Library service and supporting Croydon Labour's fight against the Tory cuts to library services and other sectors in Croydon."

Croydon Labour have not forced a meeting.  This is procedure.

Croydon Conservatives do not plan to " sell our libraries".

If Croydon Labour insist on ignoring the views of residents they will have little chance of becoming "the incoming Labour Council of 2014" as no one will trust them. At least the Conservatives kept up the pretence of consulting. It was a totally flawed consultation and ignoring the views of residents but at least they went through the motions.  But Labour, who promised a public meeting that never materialised, are now foisting a plan, built of political dogma, without any engagement with the public.

Where did this come from? Does anyone know?

Is there any party in Croydon likely to actually represent the views and wishes of Croydon residents?

If there are any residents or library campaigners who are in contact with Labour and feeding in these views please do get in touch as we do not know of you and would like to understand where this has come from.

We doubt very much they exist.

Agenda for #Croydon Libraries Meeting 18/3/13

An extraordinary meeting has been called for Monday 18th March at 6.30pm.  The first any resident knew of this was when the details were circulated via facebook and email, late on Thursday.

To save you trying to find the papers buried on the council website the link is:

https://secure.croydon.gov.uk/akscroydon/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=3&cmte=EMC&grpid=public&arc=1&utm_source=Library+Main&utm_campaign=3fbede5031-Emergency_Meeting3_16_2013&utm_medium=email

The only items for consideration are:

MATTER FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COUNCILFollowing the receipt of a requisition signed by 13 Members of the Council, the Mayor has agreed that an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council should be held. 
The requisition states: 
"We hereby call an Emergency Council meeting to discuss the follow Motion:
This Council regrets the incompetence of Councillor Fisher's administration over the failed privatisation of Libraries to John Laing.
It is vital that Croydon Council must be efficient and effective in delivery of front line services.
We agree to match the savings proposed in the John Laing deal by forming a cross party working group to deliver a Co-operative model based on devolved budgets and responsibilities; staff being employed directly through the council; removal of senior management layers; and ending the practice of expensive outsourced contracts for IT and facilities management"

And, you guessed it, the public and the press may be excluded from the meeting.

Camera ResolutionTo resolve that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.

 Irrespective of this emails are circulating furiously, given the short time frame in order to alert residents to this meeting.

Given that this is a really important issue to residents and that local councillors know this, we are left wondering who no one was alerted to this if notice of this meeting was circulated to all councillors over a week ago? That's what the posting clearly shows. See the issue date at the bottom of the entry, reproduced below.

 As a campaign group we would like to know:

Were you alerted to this meeting by any councillor of any party?
We know of only the Upper Norwood Library Campaign being altered by one councillor and in the hope that they would support Labour's plans.

Do you support the co-operative model being put forward by Croydon Labour?
We are yet to hear of any Croydon resident who asked for this or who is in support of this.

And

It is unlikely any resident or campaigner will get to speak but a very obvious question remains. Why are Labour proposing to match savings offered by Laing when GLL's bid was cheaper and provided a better level of service?

Please add your comment to this post.

We'd love to hear what residents really think.

Shh! Croydon Labour calls meeting over Libraries

The following is being circulated to residents and has been passed to Save Croydon Libraries Campaign.  It clearly demonstrates that not only have the Conservative administration bungled the procurement process to outsource libraries, which will have cost Croydon dearly, but that Croydon Labour do not know what they are doing and emulate the Conservatives by acting without a mandate.

When will those elected to serve realise they have a duty to the residents of Croydon to consult and listen?

Residents are being told that,

"Following the statement made by the Cabinet Member Cllr Tim Pollard at the last Council Meeting that John Laing had withdrawn as the likely contenders to take over all the Libraries in Croydon, and that the Croydon Council would be re-tendering....."

My comment: 
BUT Laing have not withdrawn. They tried to change the terms late on in the process around pension entitlements for staff.  Laing are experienced at procurement and many suspect they took advantage of the poor handling by Croydon.  As Croydon and Laing have long-standing business dealings they waited till the last moment to pull this detail, hoping Croydon Conservative administration would accept the terms. 

The collapse of the process means, under EU procurement law, all the short listed bidders have to be invited to resubmit their bid for the contract and can alter any aspect of this that they choose.  

GLL and Laings are the only two understood to be entering into this process. Given the apparent shoddy treatment of GLL it is surprising that they are willing to work with Croydon

In the meantime,

•  the Croydon library staff have an uncertain future hanging over them as we go back to the drawing board.
• Croydon Council is undertaking the redecoration of libraries out of this year's budget, leaving staff shunted across the borough while libraries close. 
• The redecoration should have included an IT upgrade but this is on hold as we go back to the drawing board, meaning more disruption to services and more expense as this will need to be undertaken at another point in the future.

The communication continues to detail that an extraordinary meeting is being called by the Croydon Labour group for Monday 18th March at the Town Hall 6.30pm.  The aim outlined is to have a proper discussion on the plans to privatise all the Libraries in Croydon.

My comment:
BUT no-one has thought to communicate this to the Save Croydon Libraries Campaigners.

Given that this has only been received late on Thursday evening it hardly gives any time to prepare for this meeting or for interested residents to make arrangements to attend.

The wording of the motion is as follows,

"We herby [sic] call an Emergency Council Meeting  to discuss the following Motion: 

This Council regrets the incompetence of Councillor Fisher's administration over the privatisation of Libraries to John Laing. It is vital that Croydon Council must be efficient in delivery of front line services. We agree to match the savings proposed in the John Laing deal by forming a cross party working group to deliver a Co-operative model based on devolved budgets and responsibilities: staff being employed directly through the Council; removal of senior management layers; and ending the practice of expensive outsourced contracts for IT and facilities management" 

My comment: 
Whilst the Upper Norwood Library, jointly-run until recently by Croydon and Lambeth, are now going down the Co-operative model route, this has not been discussed or consulted upon in relation to the 13 Croydon libraries.

Like all library campaign groups, Save Croydon Libraries Campaign has supported Save Upper Norwood Library Campaign in the decisions they have taken for their community.  Campaigners in Lambeth and elsewhere, where Co-operative models are being proposed, are open to the idea but wary of the potential of such a model to deliver a comprehensive and efficient library service.

The big difference is that these communities were consulted. Croydon was not!

No one in the consultation process asked for a Co-operative model and Labour did not choose to consult residents on such a proposal. 

Whilst huge potential savings on back office costs have been identified, including the exorbitant IT contract, heavily loaded on the libraries budget, no one has called for management layers within libraries to be stripped.  Given the cull of staff undertaken it is difficult to see what this would achieve, other than more closed libraries when a single member of staff calls in ill.  We've been there.  Let's not repeat it! 

I have to say that calling a meeting at such short notice, on a model not yet explained, explored or consulted upon, places Labour in a very weak position indeed. But then I hear regularly that Labour are not listening and are not interested in representing parts of the borough, such as the South. 

Croydon residents have fought long and hard to defend their libraries.  They do not want to run them!

The clear message is that we value a professionally run service. This includes not only our qualified librarians but the experienced and knowledgeable library staff - many having worked their way up to management positions through dedication and commitment and others just offering a brilliant service as a long standing member of the team, including our Saturday staff - many of whom have been forced to move on when hours were cut.

Croydon Labour are doing a disservice to the Croydon community by pushing this politically loaded statement through for debate.

Let's see real engagement.  

Let's see those elected to serve really listening to the residents.

Let's see all parties working for a better future for Croydon rather than the petty point scoring to which we are now so accustomed.

Croydon deserves better!

Post submitted by:
Elizabeth Ash, Croydon Libraries Campaigner
....in haste, given no time to consult further because of the lack of notice.

I'd love to hear what other residents think of this proposal.

#Croydon - Heading for Judicial Review

Despite a cloak of secrecy,  it's clear that Laing (JLLS) were the most likely bidder to be awarded the contract for Croydon Libraries. Many saw this as a done deal. Given the details and terms of the contract now known it would be hard to argue that Croydon didn't pave the way for the JLIS bid.

In an extraordinary turn of events, a long list of Conservative councillors called-in the decision to award the libraries contract to Laings; the very same decision they had enthusiastically voted through, en bloc, as a party.  It is worth remembering that the ruling Conservative party in Croydon has stood firm in regard to other key decisions, such as to support the incinerator plans, despite pre-election promises of no incinerator "on or near our borders". For the party to split in order for so many to call the libraries decision into question, worthy of referral to scrutiny, is a clear victory for all those who have spoken up in number throughout the process and surely indicates a deep unrest within the party regarding the decision taken.

Where now?
The process is now less straight forward and likely to take some time as scrutiny applied extra conditions to the contract which will need to be negotiated with Laing and there may be other delays to come, should any of the bidders wish to challenge the process. Croydon may also come under fire for leaving it so late, giving them littel time as they want the contract in place for April 2013.  They would need to allow for consultation with staff, TUPE arrangements as well as any further negotiations with Laing, which places Croydon in a very weak position. Residents have been advised that the decision needs to go back to the full council in any case, which won't be until January now.

The Vice Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Jason Cummings (Cons) made attempts to hear from the Save Libraries Campaign group, who represent the views of residents across the borough, given the Chair's complete absence of openness to entertain this.  We wonder what the Chair, Cllr Steve Holland (Cons), wanted to avoid being tabled. All that Elizabeth Ash, speaking on behalf of the Campaign, asked for was just two minutes of the committee's time, without right to reply. This was denied. Given the poor calibre of questioning put forward by councillors (something we are happy to cover in another post) it was clearly ill-advised to deny the committee hearing these points which would have provided pertinent information not yet tabled for consideration. And, despite Cllr Cummings seemingly genuine undertaking to make sure the campaign view was heard and put forward for consideration before any decision was passed, he has made no contact in over two weeks since the meeting at which he made this promise. The Campaign leaves it to you to form your own opinion.

Judicial Review is on the cards

The fight is not over and we may now need to go to judicial review. We cannot do this until the final announcement is made but this does not stop us considering all options before this time. We would not proceed unless we had a very good case but from all the Campaign knows we have a case on several key points. The scrutiny process just adds weight to the case. We need a group of residents to take this forward to explore further and the Campaign is delighted that, despite being the week running up to Christmas that so many residents have replied so far in support of standing up to speak up for our libraries and to challenge the decision.

Support for a judicial review has also been indicated by Croydon Labour and now UKIP. The Campaign remains open to hearing from other parties to push this challenge.  We would remind all that the Campaign is non party political but we will accept any help offered as we have clear evidence that outsourcing is not what residents want and that what Laing have to offer on libraries is far from what residents of Croydon value!

Please get in touch if you can help.  We need people to stand up to be counted or we will lose the library service we so value. It is clearly not too late to rebuild what we have lost but we must not let it deteriorate any further. Check out what Laing have done to Hounslow Libraries if you are in any doubt here and here.

What we know, thanks to the persistent questioning of several Labour councillors, is that the pay and conditions of our remaining staff will be maintained, as required by law, but there is no commitment to keep the many staff we understand are on short term contract, so new staff can be taken on with lesser qualifications, pay and conditions. Cllr Steve O'Connell made clear that Croydon council do not sign up to the London Living Wage so would not even entertain a question on this.

The terms of the contract are to maintain the existing service - a service that has been run into the ground since before the consultation began, with huge loss of staff, greatly depleted book stock, and lack of service in our libraries as staff are often ill-equipped and untrained.  We've a clear record of this, thanks to the vigilance of library users across the borough. The strain this has placed on our original staff, and on those new, trying to fulfil the role, must be immense. Please show them your support.

Many residents are still unaware of the plans. Thanks to all who have sent a constant stream of information to the Campaign in the form of observations, comments and photos.

We need to mobilise.  Spread the word. Please also get in touch.

Thank you!

Save Croydon Libraries Campaign
savecroydonlibraries@gmail.com
www.soslibrary.blogspot.com
Follow us on twitter @SaveCroydonLibs
Join us on facebook Save Croydon Libraries group

Let's stop the erosion of our library service! Keep your comments and evidence coming in!

Protests

Not coping, across the borough, given staff cull

Lack of staff; lack of volunteers... oh dear!

Take your pick. The choice is limited though!

Clear shelves makes dusting easier but limits library user choice. What is the priority in  Croydon? Hmmm...

And yet we come back, time and time again, to say we love our libraries and NEED our libraries. ~What is it that Croydon do not get?
*pregnant pause*

*STOP PRESS*

@CroydonGreens have added their weight to the support for Croydon libraries. So all local parties are on board to fight that this is a wrong decision, including those within the ruling Conservative party.

Interesting times....Watch this space!