Library hours saved as backers cheer extra cash boost

Libraries will not have their hours cut or be reorganised into area groups after a decision off the back of a major consultation that was cheered by library backers.

Devon’s cabinet gave its unanimous support to keeping staffed library hours as they are as well as scrapping a possible idea of grouping libraries in areas, while more cash was unveiled to support the county’s 50-strong library network too.
Besides previously flagged cash including a £1 million libraries transformation and rural hub fund, the cabinet heard that extra funding would also be forthcoming, including £1 million it said was made possible by council-wide underspends.
Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Liberal Democrat, Torrington Rural), whose cabinet brief includes overseeing libraries, told Devon County Council’s cabinet that “there couldn’t have been a better outcome”.
Members of the public attended the meeting to hear debate, with some speaking in advance of the decision to urge the cabinet to protect libraries.
After the cabinet agreed to keep staffed hours the same at their existing 1,294 per week across the county at a cost of around £500,000 per year, and to funnel extra cash towards libraries, Geoff Woodman, chair of the Friends of Budleigh Salterton Library, said he welcomed the outcome.
“We’ve been fighting the campaign vigorously to keep the library service business as usual, and so we are delighted with the outcome,” he said.
More than 25,000 people responded to the consultation, with just 7 per cent of those stating they would use a nearby library if their local one was closed.
That showed that the suggestion of grouping libraries together, so that residents could have used another site when their local library was closed, was not a popular proposal, and that residents favoured their own library being open as much as possible.
However, the prospect of the rollout of Open+, which allows access to libraries outside hours, as well as the response of around 6,000 people stating they would be willing to volunteer in their local library, were flagged as positives to come out of the consultation.
Some councillors not in the cabinet questioned why some of the proposals were ever made given their obvious unpopularity, but members of the cabinet stressed that the outcome showed it had listened to the voices of residents.
Cllr Cottle-Hunkin said she had visited 29 of the county’s libraries to “speak directly with staff, volunteers and users” as part of the wider consultation process.
“This has shown how individual libraries are used by their local communities and what people value most about them, and opportunities for the future,” she said.
Cllr Cottle-Hunkin added that she acknowledged the past few months had involved a “lot of uncertainty” for library staff and that it had “not been easy”.
“But they have continued to deliver a high quality service with professional care and commitment,” she added.
Cllr Cottle-Hunkin, visibly emotional after the unanimous backing of her proposals, said that librarians were “valued” and that was why the cabinet had opted to protect staffed hours.
“Protecting staffed library hours is a central part of what we are recommending today but we do need to be honest, as there has been a reduction in funding for many years, and libraries Unlimited has been using its reserves and the current model is not sustainable.”
She added that it would be part of the council’s future vision for libraries to try and host a wider range of services within libraries to help support them, building on initiatives such as blood pressure monitors.
Councillor Michael Fife Cook (Reform UK, Yelverton Rural) said he felt the council had “spent a lot of time finding out what many knew in the first place”.
“We know how valuable libraries are and we know what they offer, so I find it has just been wasting time getting to where we are, as I don’t think anyone wanted libraries to lose hours.”
Councillor Andrew Leadbetter (Conservative, Topsham and Wearside) said he had some sympathy with the perspective of Cllr Fife Cook but that he was “really delighted” that library hours would be maintained and its service extended.
Councillor Jess Bailey (Independent, Otter Valley), who campaigned against the proposals that could have seen Ottery St Mary’s library hours reduced and becoming grouped with others in the area, expressed a “huge well done to campaigners”.
“Abandoning the bandings is a real victory for local communities and campaigners,” she said.
Other funding approved includes an extra £100,000 per year for this year and next towards the book fund, which had been bolstered back to £500,000 back in February, when the council also reversed a prospective £650,000 of cuts that libraries were possibly facing.
Elsewhere, there is also a proposal to spend £400,000 on rolling out Open+ to more Devon libraries to enable them to be accessed outside staffed hours.
A trial of the technology in Cullompton has meant the library being accessible for 29 hours extra per week without the need for extra staff. The cash to roll the scheme out more widely came from a £200,000 Arts Council Award, which was then match-funded by £100,000 from each of Libraries Unlimited and Devon County Council.