Forum Topic

Library consultation open - have your say

Ealing Council has opened public consultation on its draft proposals for our library services.As reported before the idea is to either find volunteers to run seven branch libraries or close them. This includes West Ealing, Northfields and Hanwell. Main libraries in town centres will be retained but with reduced opening hours.The council cannot simply close all its libraries as it has a legal requirement to provide a service. However, its proposals will have a direct impact on library users and inevitably lead to a decline in usage and the range of books and services provided. This will have the biggest impact on people with young families, the elderly and the disabled, who may find it difficult to travel to central libraries.And the total saving to be made from decimating this service? £1.6million by 2023. That’s not much more than our councillors cost us about EVERY year with their allowances.I would urge anyone who wants to save our libraries to fill in the survey and submit it, just be careful about the wording- there is a political aim to close our libraries so make sure you state where appropriate that you want current levels of service to be main.Go to https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201042/current_consultations/2548/have_your_say_on_the_draft_ealing_library_strategy.

Simon Hayes ● 2595d15 Comments

Can i have a special responsibility allowance please? I have all the qualifications. I'm an idiot, i can learn new handshakes with impunity. Can i also be amazed at what i can get away with please

Dennis Bailey ● 2570d

Basic allowances are £670,00 per annum. Special responsibility allowances on top of that for cabinet posts etc. Seems some of them turn up and don’t even know what they are voting on - Binda Rai said she had no knowledge of the scrapping of stop and shop proposals yet is in the cabinet that passed the draft plan last month. She pockets £20k a year from us for that!

Simon Hayes ● 2571d

And how much are we giving our councillors in allowances in total?

Graham Weeks ● 2571d

These are the running costs of six of the libraries threatened with closure by Ealing Council:Hanwell: £70,028.76Northfields: £67,618.76Perivale: £49,239.75Pitshanger: £126,348.76West Ealing: £98,158.26Wood End: £56,970.29In the current financial year the Council has spent £148,138 on Around Ealing magazine. It will recoup about one third of that through advertising.Last year it spent £146,619, and took £57,808 advertising In 2016/17 it spent £140,061 and took £36,797And so it goes on, some £100,000 a year subsidising a magazine in which they can’t even tell residents the truth.Make up your own minds about which one better educates, informs and provides a community service: our library service or Around Ealing.Sign the petition at https://ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/E-petitions/tabid/143/ID/73/Save-Ealing-s-Seven-Libraries.aspxHave your say in the consultation at https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201042/current_consultations/2548/have_your_say_on_the_draft_ealing_library_strategy

Simon Hayes ● 2571d

Ironic that it’s National Book Week and we should be fearing for the future of our libraries. Our kids are being stimulated at school with discussions, workshops and author visits, developing a genuine love of reading.There is something seriously amiss with the priorities of all our levels of government. The Brexit ferry fiasco is a scandal but incompetence can be found at every level nationally and locally.

Simon Hayes ● 2589d

Completely agree about libraries being needed as somewhere to use a photocopier and a computer for those who would otherwise not have access to these.There is no way that my 97 year old father-in-law would have been able to use a computer at home.  Lots of people have never had a smartphone and would not be able to use those either.A good place for the local Association for the Blind to meet and/or advertise their existence and gadgets to make reading easier.

Philippa Bond ● 2589d

Perhaps the Government should stop wasting money on ferry companies with no ferries and pay outs of £33 million like this:https://www.itv.com/news/2019-03-01/eurotunnel-withdraws-legal-claim-against-post-brexit-ferry-contracts/and stop trying to take us back to Victorian times where we had rich local philanthropists who built buildings like libraries for the community. Life has changed and people's experience of the world has grown.  They travel further and don't spend so much time in their own locality.

Philippa Bond ● 2589d

Yes the message is,' We the councillors will not work unless remunerated  by you residents but you residents must run your libraries for nothing or we will close them!'

Graham Weeks ● 2590d

Well they won’t shut if they can find community groups to run them. The problem will be finding sufficient volunteers to do it effectively. Very hard in London when people have jobs, commutes and families. Perhaps our councillors will volunteer to run them!The cynicism of this Council beggars belief. We are constantly told that all its decisions are a good deal for residents and yet if you lift the lid on any of the decisions that have been taken in recent years you find mismanagement of money, failed opportunities and cronyism. It’s only going to get worse....

Simon Hayes ● 2590d

I was also assured by our noble Leader that Greenford library was not to be shut.

Graham Weeks ● 2590d

Interesting but not surprising. I was assured by Cllr Bell that special allowances were to be cut after I suggested to him that basic allowances be cut. No doubt we’ll be spun some line about how hard the Council is working for us in the face of austerity and cuts.I wonder how many residents have ever attended a council meeting. A singularly depressing experience. Debate is non-existent, motions go through on the nod and most councillors spend more time on their phones than listening to what’s being said.Sadly we’re stuck with Cllr Bell and his glove puppets for another three years. Who knows what state the borough will be in by then.

Simon Hayes ● 2590d

Labour councillors are there to make money not to save libraries https://www.ealingconservatives.org.uk/news/labour-reject-proposal-save-ealing-libraries

Graham Weeks ● 2590d

I don't think the needs of the elderly or disabled or those with young families comes into the minds of our Labour overlords, unless it's when defending the spending on its Around Ealing magazine (an essential news service for the elderly apparently). The fact is, if our branch libraries close the options for thousands of residents to access the service will be severely diminished, if not taken away entirely. I wonder how many of our elected representatives regularly use a library.

Simon Hayes ● 2593d

An elderly gentleman just up the road from me tried to report a defect to the council over the phone, he was told it could only be reported online. When he informed them he doesn't own a computer he was informed that he would have to do it online at the local library.Shutting local libraries shows that joined up thinking just hasn't caught on at the council yet.

Dennis Bailey ● 2593d

And here’s a link to an online petition that has been set up to challenge these proposals, and I’m not the petitioner! Some food for thought - the Council says it will save £1.6m by 2023 if it disposes of branch libraries in the borough. In that same time scale our councillors will have pocketed more than £2.5m in basic allowances alone. Go figure...https://ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/E-petitions/tabid/143/ID/73/Save-Ealing-s-Seven-Libraries.aspx

Simon Hayes ● 2595d