Community readies fight against ‘ill-judged’ library overhaul

A community in East Devon is preparing to protest about a potential overhaul to library services that they believe could significantly impact their town.

The Ottery Library Friends group has issued a rallying cry to residents to head down on Friday to make their voices heard ahead of potential changes that they believe could be a body-blow for the town.
Devon County Council is conducting a public consultation on the county’s libraries, but those who support Ottery St Mary library have claimed the council’s exercise is “badly designed and ill-judged”.
“The consultation is basically a travesty because it has reduced Devon’s libraries to a meaningless ‘network’ grouped into four bands, cutting more and more hours in each,” said Marilyn Spidell, secretary of the Ottery Library Friends.
“It ultimately ends in Band D, giving 21 libraries only six hours a week. This is clearly unsustainable.
“Their empty boast that ‘we’re not closing any libraries’ is a cowardly cover because those 21 libraries are clearly unsustainable and will be closed after a few months’ struggle.”
She added that the council should have “taken the brave, obvious decision to transfer those lesser-used libraries into a mobile service”.
Ms Spidell also criticised the notion behind the consultation that the network model would mean a library in another community would be open when theirs was shut.
“That denies the reality of libraries as a local facility,” she added.
“It is another empty boast that at least one library is open across Devon Monday to Saturday.
“Nobody cares about going to another library, even if they could, which in Ottery they can’t because there are no trains and few buses.”
Councillor Jess Bailey (Independent, Otter Valley), who represents the area on Devon County Council, has also urged residents to back the library, which she described as a “thriving, much-loved community space”.
On the wet, grey day I visited, it was busy and buzzing,” Cllr Bailey said in a post on Facebook.
“People of all ages were there – not just borrowing and returning books, but using computers, doing jigsaws, and even having health checks.
“And in the National Year of Reading, it was wonderful to see young children enjoying books alongside older relatives in the children’s area.”
Cllr Bailey added the library was a “warm, welcoming space” run by a “brilliant team of staff and supported by dedicated volunteers”.
“It is so much more than a traditional library, offering a wide range of activities for all ages,” she added.
“Its central location also helps to support Ottery’s town centre and local businesses.”
Cllr Bailey felt the proposed grouping of libraries, which suggests users in one location can use another nearby library if when theirs is closed, “ignores the reality for many residents”.
“This includes poor public transport, mobility issues, and the strong relationships people have with the staff and volunteers in their own local library,” she said.
“The reality is that these proposals would mean a significant loss for Ottery and surrounding communities, reducing staffed opening hours from 21 hours to just 15 hours a week.
“Ottery Library would also be closed entirely on Mondays and Fridays – despite Friday being its busiest day – leading to the loss of many activities and services.”
The consultation remains open until Sunday 22 February, and can be filled in on the Devon County Council website, or at your local library.
Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Liberal Democrat, Torrington Rural) has urged towns and parishes to take part in the consultation so their views are heard.
“As the way people use libraries continues to change, this consultation is an important chance to rethink and update the service, so it better reflects how people use libraries now and how they hope to use them in the future,” Cllr Cottle-Hunkin said.
“By making sensible use of new technology, we can support libraries to develop further as community hubs, giving local people and organisations more opportunities to make good use of their library spaces.
“We’ve seen this technology used successfully in other parts of the country to extend opening hours, improve access, and offer more flexibility for residents.
“We’ve also looked at how other authorities, such as Lincolnshire and Cornwall, manage a mix of council-run and community-led libraries to help inform our thinking.”
Towards the end of last month, the council said it had received 14,000 responses so far. It has said no libraries will close under the proposals.
It said it wants residents to “give their views on proposals to reduce and ‘standardise’ opening hours and options to extend opening hours through additional volunteering by using technology and the potential introduction of community managed libraries”.
“Our consultation will also include a dedicated survey for children (13 and over) – there are currently more than 113,000 active registered library users in Devon and 28 per cent of those are children, the single largest group,” it added.