WARRINGTON’S library provider LiveWire has refuted “leaked papers” claims over planning permission to provide a service from Golden Square.
It has been alleged that the Community Interest Company which is currently consulting over cuts to library services, has applied for planning permission to implement at least one of their proposals before they have even completed their on going public consultations.
Chris Vobe
Local resident Neil Kingsnorth, who is campaigning against library cut backs, claims papers “leaked” to ex-Councillor Chris Vobe and shared publicly, show that planning permission is being sought on behalf of Livewire for change of use for Unit 108 in the Golden Square shopping centre – currently home of the Funky Dory shoe shop.
The application letter says that “it will be a flexible facility with the ability to be used for a number of different activities at different times, differentiated by different zones within the unit.”
Proposals for the space include a “Quite Zone”, a “Digital Zone” and a “Reading and Learning Zone e.g. selection of books in a range of formats, frequently rotated/circulated from other branches.
Mr Kingsnorth, who works for a charity and lives in Grappenhall, who is just one of thousands of signatories of the online petition opposing the library cuts, says, “People are shocked at the out-the-blue proposals, shocked at the lack of options put forward, shocked at the lack of detail behind them and shocked that their elected representatives don’t even seem to have been informed of the plans. Now we find that LiveWire seem to have such a disregard for genuine consultation that they are pushing on with their plans before the public have even had their say.
“It’s a shoddy sham of a consultation and these proposals should be withdrawn, with Councillors and the public given a proper chance to shape our libraries’ future.”
Mr Kingsnorth has also formally reported LiveWire to the Community Interest Company Regulator last week after hearing the organisation described as a charity.
But LiveWire have refuted the claims saying the plans for the town centre facility and development of a Heritage Hub in the existing Central Library building were shared with the public on 26 November 2015 and were well publicised in the local press and via LiveWire’s website and social media accounts.
A spokesperson for LiveWire said: “The planning application for the change of use on a unit within Golden Square is not a leaked document and has been in the public domain since August 2016. This planning application was submitted by an external property service and not LiveWire which has restricted LiveWire publicising where the unit is until the application is approved.
“While the consultation will not inform whether or not these developments go ahead entirely, it will inform the extent of what the offer is from these sites.
“We have been clear in our consultation sessions that if the public would prefer option 2 (to keep all the buildings open but with reduced opening hours and services) that there would still be an offer from the new town centre facility and a reference library from the current building on Museum Street but it would be significantly reduced in order to make the required saving of £300k.
“We thought it was important to include the plans for all current and future sites within the consultation, including new and developing sites in the town centre, Great Sankey Neighbourhood Hub and Bewsey Dallam Hub, to make the public aware of what the complete library and learning offer across the whole of Warrington will look like within each option.
“As stated in previous communications, LiveWire would be looking to open the town centre facility in 2017.
The spokesperson added: “This is a genuine consultation and the outcomes of which will be used to inform any final decisions. More than 600 people have attended the five public consultation sessions we’ve held so far and we have received a significant amount about our proposals from residents across the whole of Warrington. We welcome the many comments and suggestions we’ve received and will ensure they are used to give a full report to the council on the feedback from these proposals.
“There have been some fantastic suggestions from Councillors, Parish Councillors and residents in Lymm, Penketh and Padgate as to how we could work with existing businesses and community groups to deliver a wider range of services from these existing library sites with a view to making the buildings financially sustainable, all of which we look forward to following up via further feedback events in areas that have requested them.
“Over the last six months, a team of six people from the organisation has carefully looked at a number of options for libraries in order to save the required £300k and these are included in the presentation given during consultation events.
“We understand that any changes to the library service is difficult for residents who use it regularly so what we have tried to do in our proposals is deliver a comprehensive library service in a new and innovative way. We have also looked at cutting library services in the traditional way like many other neighbouring authorities have done recently.
“This would mean retaining every library site but in order to make the required financial savings, cutting opening hours by 68% (meaning stand-alone sites are only open for a cumulative 9 hours per week), cutting spending on books by 75%, and having drop off and pick up options only at Orford and Woolston Libraries. We didn’t feel that this was the best solution for the residents of Warrington.
The spokesperson admitted that the use the term ‘charity’ had been used to explain the type of company, instead of the correct term, Community Interest Company (CIC) a Non Profit Distributing Company (NPDO), in an effort to reassure residents that LiveWire does not make a profit from the services it
provides.
“Despite our best efforts in the past, the term CIC has not been understood properly and we have been called a ‘leisure trust’ in various public documents.
“We accept that ‘charity’ was not the correct term used and at subsequent public consultation meetings we have been careful to explain what a CIC is and that none of our surplus funds are paid in dividend outside of LiveWire. If we do have a surplus the terms of our management agreement with Warrington Borough Council (our commissioners) are that by joint agreement we either return funds to them or invest into our facilities for community benefit.”
5 Comments
For those interested you can search using the following reference 2016/28562 on the planning section of the WBC website. No great secret or mystery really….and not sure how you leak information that is already in the public domain.
Option 2? At no point at the Lymm consultation meeting did they imply there was an ‘Option 2’.They talked about the ‘traditional’ way of making cuts and said Lymm (Currently the busiest library in Warrignton) could open for one hour – with all of the hubs open full time (That’s an hour a week!), but it wasn’t put through as an option… There are a few other options methinks than they have suggested! #saveLymmlibrary
You’re right – the documents were put up on the planning section of the council website a couple of weeks before the consultation so if you looked hard enough, you could have found them. On those grounds, they weren’t “leaked”. But it’s fair to say that it took the actions of someone within Livewire itself, who is opposed to these library cuts, to bring them to the attention of people that care but aren’t searching for planning applications.
BUT
– Why did Livewire run a public story about moving the library (and presumably sought the lottery funding too) BEFORE people were consulted on changes to library services? What would happen to these already declared plans, and this lottery project, if people say they want their library kept where it is?
– The plans for a “heritage hub” in Warrington library were covered in the press, yes. But as a story about expansion of library services, not cuts to them. See “£5m Heritage Hub tipped to open in 2019 – town centre library set to expand” for example.
– Livewire applied for planning permission to use a space in Golden Square for just weeks before starting to consult on those proposals. Why apply now instead of after the consultation?
This all suggests that they have made their mind up about cutting Warrington central library, making it a mixed use space with a vastly reduced library service. But I thought there was a consultation?
And yes Graham, good point – it’s the first I’ve heard of an “option 2.”
Consultation in LiveWire (aka WBC) speak = “we’ll listen to you and then tell you what we are going to do.” It has been so for so long now – well before LiveWire were foisted upon us – that it is surprising how many people really believe there is a genuine consultation.
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