Croydon still paying for library they tried desperately to ditch!

It has been announced by Lambeth Council that they will take over responsibility for the 112-year-old Upper Norwood Library in a deal with Croydon Council which they claim will safeguard its future. The library had been threatened with closure.

The library had been jointly funded by both councils. Croydon Council's decision to cut its contribution by £100,000 provoked a strong reaction from the local community and the situation has been carefully monitored by Upper Norwood Library Campaign.

Lambeth Council state that under the agreement Croydon Council will transfer to the library building, staff, and agreed budgets to Lambeth. Lambeth in turn will work with the community-led steering group Upper Norwood Joint Campaign whose aim is to create a new trust which will run the library as “a publicly-funded, professionally staffed service”.

The deal has been welcomed by Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Councillor Sally Prentice.

Cllr Prentice said,

 “I am delighted that Lambeth have been able to save Upper Norwood Library from closure. It’s fantastic news for local residents and guarantees the future of this library which is held in high regard by the community. 

While councils up and down the country are closing libraries, in Lambeth we have protected our libraries and are investing over £7 million in new services, working side by side with the community.”

The detail of the agreement is being negotiated and the transfer of assets from Croydon to Lambeth is scheduled to take place over the next few months.

Lambeth will contribute £170,000 a year to the running of the library.

Although Croydon has always maintained that Lambeth were in the wrong and that it was Lambeth that broke the joint agreement it is interesting to note that Croydon Council has agreed to provide an annual contribution of £75,000, for the next two years, renewable under a three-year funding agreement.

It is doubtful that Croydon would pay a penny more than they were contractually bound to pay.

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.

Council flouting its legal agreement

Another library article in the local press, still not online so reproduced here.

Croydon Guardian article May 23, 2012

Croydon is accused of flouting its legal agreement to run Upper Norwood Library (UNJL) jointly with Lambeth Council.  

Whilst the UNJL consultation document gave the option to keep funding at existing levels, Croydon library campaigners are acutely aware that in the previous consultation on six Croydon libraries, Croydon chose to ignore the 'do nothing' option. Will it be the same for Upper Norwood?

The options Croydon put to Lambeth before the launch of this consultation certainly do not support continued support from Croydon:  http://www.soslibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/croydons-treatment-of-upper-norwood.html but perhaps most damning is the details Inside Croydon exposed of Croydon's dealings with Lambeth early on in the process.  

News from Crystal Palace: BASHFORD BROUGHT TO BOOK - UPDATE

Residents are encouraged by campaigners to continue to send in comments to be taken into consideration by Croydon after Cllr Tim Pollard has given his assurance that comments will be taken into consideration in the consultation.


The message reads, 

 "Cllr Tim Pollard confirmed Croydon council will continue to accept comments re the provision of library services in Upper Norwood onUNJL.ENQUIRIES@croydon.gov.uk as part of (the) consultation.If you would like to support your library by asking Croydon to continue to fund our library or perhaps indeed encouraging them to invest more. The library campaign would definitely encourage you to email." 

A Campaign spokeswoman added: "And I would too. "It'll take you two minutes. "Go on, go on."

Read the full post here:


News from Crystal Palace: BASHFORD BROUGHT TO BOOK - UPDATE: BASHFORD BROUGHT TO BOOK - UPDATE   Cllr Sarah Bashford has lost the 'culture' part of her cabinet job in a reshuffle by Croydon coun...

www.unlc.or.uk

Upper Norwood Library celebrates National Libraries Day

Whilst Croydon seem a little more than reticent to promote their libraries and the book borrowing on the day Upper Norwood Library are clearly promoting National Libraries Day. There will certainly be enough to do with all the special events on offer. Just take a look here!

The Upper Norwood Library Campaign will have a stalls inside and outside the library. A petition will be available for anyone who has not already signed.

We have covered the plight of Upper Norwood before. Click here for details.
http://soslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/01/croydons-treatment-of-upper-norwood.html

Upper Norwood Library Emergency Meeting - Friday 27th January

Emergency Meeting  

Please spread the word!

Letters respond to "gaff-prone Eddy" tell the truth and remind campaigners

This week it is the Croydon Guardian again who has features letters regarding the Upper Norwood Joint Library.  You can read the letters here on page 21 of this week's edition. All appear to have been written in response to this offering from Cllr Eddy Arram, which we reproduced, with comments, here.

What the letters this week all have in common is that they doubt the words of Cllr Eddy Arram.

John Payne, Chairman of the Crystal Palace Community Association, implores Croydon to work with Lambeth.

Presumably at the time of writing Mr Payne was unaware that Croydon had already set in motion plans to value the library and book stock, all set out in a letter sent after the last post date before Christmas had passed, giving Lambeth unreasonable time scales within which to respond.  You can read the story, which includes a copy of Croydon CEO, Jon Rouse's letter, here.  

Then there is the letter where the writer refers to Croydon's,

 "stubborn, wilful and irresponsible disinclination to comply with the Joint Library Agreement..." 

And finally we have local ward councillor, Pat Ryan, putting Cllr Arram straight.  

Cllr Ryan's reference to 

"dear gaff-prone Eddy" 

will ring true with many Croydon residents.  It reminds us all of the previous exchanges on Croydon libraries, again in the letters pages of the local press. You can read Cllr Arrram's letter with comments here, which one of the campaigners responded to here. 

Perhaps Cllr Arram might like to pause to consider more carefully next time he makes a statement, as Croydon and Lambeth residents are not so easily taken in.

We are also sure that Cllr Sara Bashford will thank him warmly for reminding the Save Croydon Libraries Campaign group that, as was stated in this post back in August 2011, written in response to Cllr Arram's letter, that we promised to share why we believe Croydon residents were denied a say on libraries and residents' concerns were not being taken seriously. 

We never did that fully, did we?  Cheers for the reminder Eddy!

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.

Irresponsible Lambeth, apparently

This week sees the Croydon Guardian running a letter from Croydon Conservative Cllr Eddy Arram, reacting to the words of Croydon Labour Cllr Maggie Mansell and accusing Lambeth of acting in,

"such an irresponsible and damaging way"

over Upper Norwood Joint Library (UNJL).

Cllr Mansell's thoughts were recorded in the eXtra section of the Croydon Guardian, which is no longer available, but if we can secure a copy we will be happy to update this post.

This week's letter can be found on page 14 here.  We reproduce the letter below.

Cllr Arram's letter in this week's Croydon Guardian

Cllr Arram states that,

"Because Lambeth Councillors failed to meet its responsibilities and duties by taking up their places on the UNJLA (Upper Norwood Joint Library Authority) committee, thus making it unable to operate, it does not mean Croydon Council will act in such an irresponsible way."

We hope the reader gets the gist of what Cllr Arram is attempting to say but we seriously question the validity of his point, as we will go on to explain.


At the public meeting held in November 2011 many of the Croydon Labour and Lambeth Labour councillors were present, including Cllr Florence Nosegbe, who had another engagement but knew the importance of attending.  The hall was packed out, with standing room only.

And where was Cllr Sara Bashford, Cllr Nosegbe's counterpart from Croydon? Nowhere to be seen, nor was any other Croydon Conservative councillor. It became clear that this was not the first time. Cllr Nosegbe explained how, having set a meeting date with Croydon to try to resolve the stalemate over UNJL, the meeting was cancelled at very short notice and therefore no meeting had yet taken place.

It was agreed  that further attempts should be made to try to get Croydon to co-operate, some might even say to act in a responsible manner, and agree to a meeting together to sit around the table and plan the way forward.


The background to the current UNJL saga can be found here, including the three options Croydon have put to Lambeth.

1. Buy Croydon’s half share of all UNJL assets and accept responsibility for the UNJL.
2.  Take a lease of Croydon's half share in the premises and become solely responsible for the UNJL.
3. Agree that the library will be sold with the proceeds, after settlement of all costs, equally divided between the two boroughs.

So when Cllr Arram speaks of acting in "such an irresponsible and damaging way" perhaps he should take a look at his own Council's track record and actions. Croydon's refusal to meet and the only options given to Lambeth which absolve Croydon of any responsibility for this library, used by its residents, seems far from responsible or constructive.