A LABOUR councillor at Warrington has questioned the impartiality and “true independence” of a library review board set up to advise the borough council about the future of the town’s library service.
Coun Hitesh Patel, Labour’s spokesman on leisure and skills, claimed that up to 65 per cent of the membership of the review board were getting some form of income, either directly as a salary, or indirectly as a grant to their employing organisation, from the council.
The review board recommended that the council close Great Sankey and Grappenhall libraries and end the mobile library service to help save £387,000-a-year and the proposal has now gone out to public consultation..
Coun Patel asked who had set the target of cutting this amount and how the figure had been arrived at.
He said: “This Lib Dem-Tory council seems intent on slashing those services that young people rely on.
“First we had the youth service provision being reduced and now they are proposing to close down libraries.
“I know the Coalition government is forcing massive cuts to the public sector, but to hide behind a smoke screen of a so-called independent panel is just not fair to the people of Warrington.
“If the panel was truly independent, why did it not challenge the council’s current mis-management of the library service? Surely if the libraries opened at more user-friendly hours, then many more people would use them. Once the library is gone, it’s gone forever and I ‘m not convinced the council is doing the right thing.”
Coun Bob Timmis, executive member for leisure and skills, the budget for 2010-11 was approved by the full council in March. The opposition did not vote against it.
The proposals were based on the advice of officers and the need to modernise and deliver the service more effectively.
A LABOUR councillor at Warrington has questioned the impartiality and
"true independence" of a library review board set up to advise the
borough council about the future of the town's library service.
Was library review board impartial?
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
2 Comments
Dear Councillor Timmis,
Did the budget proposals put forward by the LibDem-Tory coalition running the council in March explicitly mention closing down the various libraries? NO ! ! !
Did the Labour Councillors actually vote for the LibDem-tory budget in March? NO ! ! !
The LibDems cut our bus services, the LibDems cut our youth service provision…were these explicitly laid out in the March budget papers or when the public was consulted?? NO ! ! !
Why can’t the LibDems stop trying to hoodwink the public by not-so-clever use of language?? The current budget consultation exercise the LibDem-Tory council is carrying out has no detail for us to understand just what services will be stopped when individual department’s budgets are set…SO HOW CAN WE PROPERLY GIVE OUR VIEWS??
Councillor Timmis… If it looks like a cut in public service, smells like a cut in public service…trust me…IT IS A CUT IS PUBLIC SERVICES ! ! !
If you use the libraries (either the buildings or the mobile library) I’d realy like to hear your views.
You can do this by going to my online survey form:
http://www.tiny.cc/warringtonlibrary
Thanks
Cllr Hitesh Patel
Labour councillor for Great Sankey South ward