20 December (Part 1) - Library downgrades. All stitched up months ago
Be under no illusions, all councils have suffered massive cuts to the grants handed down
by central government, the country has barely begun to recover from the downturn which began six years ago.
It’s a fact and there will be consequences.
Another undeniable truth is that the environment in which libraries operate has
changed massively. When I was a young teenager I would tiptoe around the town
library while adults were putting fingers to their lips and saying “Schhh”.
My most recent trip to libraries were not happy ones and I doubt I shall return.
Probably oldies like me are drifting away and the Kindle and i-Pad generation is
hard to recruit. So I am not against library retrenchment, only against councils
that do not have a clue about democracy. Those which cobble together a policy
and put it out for a sham consultation that they have absolutely no intention of
accommodating. Worse, will pretend to sponsor a petition which we are expected
to believe is a genuine attempt to derail the plans of their own best mates. Does
that sound like Bexley? Of course it is. I’ve watched these buggers for more
than four years now and they absolutely never shelve a cut because of public
discontent and when necessary they will ‘adapt’ consultation figures to suit themselves.
Having already written
an informal resumé of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting
I shall now fall back on my audio recording and strictly factual stuff.
It has not been the practice historically for petitions to be heard at Cabinet
but the across the board reduction in the number of meetings which forms part of
Teresa O’Neill’s clamp down on scrutiny opportunities can result in something
going out for consultation and being signed and sealed between meetings. The
current gap between council meetings is exactly four months. For that reason last
Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting was the scene of a sham petition process without a
hope in hell of it making any impact.
Before Ms. Karen Mensa-Bonsu was graciously allowed to speak for five whole
minutes Teresa O’Neill stepped in to say "the petition refers to closure but we
are not actually talking about closure” which as I learned later is not strictly
correct. Full closure may not be the preferred option, that's to get a voluntary
group to run them, but if volunteers cannot be found, or they are found but make
a hash of things, then four libraries will close.
KMB’s case was that if libraries have to be down graded or closed, Blackfen is not a sensible choice.
Official figures show Blackfen to be the fourth most used library
(visits) which is not what the consultation document said. All libraries have
suffered a decline since 2010, Central is down 21% and Welling 35% but Blackfen
is down by only 14%, no more than Sidcup and Erith which are to stay open. Over
the past year Blackfen has not noticeably declined and Northumberland Heath and
Upper Belvedere Libraries, also scheduled for closure (or whatever) have actually increased.
For use by children, Blackfen is second only to Bexleyheath’s Central
Library, perhaps because it is within walking distance of six schools. It is
well placed in the town centre, helping to bring in trade and is the only public
meeting place in Blackfen. There is a large car park nearby neither of which
apply to Sidcup and Welling.
Community libraries have a restricted range of books and none in ethnic
languages and are not entirely free to use. Volunteers do not have the expertise
of professional librarians. Blackfen, Ms. KMB said was too large a library to be
successfully run on a volunteer basis and unlikely to offer other council
services such as parking permits, neither was skilled IT assistance likely to be on call.
In summary KMB said that Blackfen was more used than Welling and in terms of
cost per visit was the second least expensive in the borough and more of
Welling’s 1·5 mile circle lies outside the borough than does Blackfen’s. Ms.
Mensa-Bonsu received a round of applause exactly 300 seconds after she
started speaking - but not from a stony faced cabinet although Teresa O’Neill
did manage a rather condescending and school teacher-like comment about hitting
the five minute mark so precisely. I felt sorry for those who
had come to watch the spectacle. Unused as they were to the ways of Bexley
council they probably thought they were in with a chance of influencing a
decision which in reality had been made weeks ago. The cabinet were there solely
to destroy every argument KMB had put forward.
Cabinet
member Alex Sawyer who is charged with making cuts to library
expenditure congratulated KMB on obtaining more than 3,000 signatures. He may
have meant well but again it sounded condescending. He agreed that the library
was the heart of Blackfen’s community, “do you not accept or acknowledge that
libraries run by a community group in the community can better serve that
community than the council can with a one size fits all library”. KMB thought
that “Blackfen was too big and busy to be effectively managed by a community
group”. The usage figures in the consultation document were simply not true and
the wrong “down grading” decision had been made. “Welling has been losing
customers at a rate of knots” and Blackfen has not been. The decision “is disgusting”.
Sawyer who admitted he preferred Wikipedia to libraries, came back with another
condescending remark. “You are making your points
very well if I may say so” and went on to admit that “Blackfen Library is an
undoubted success” but experience of community management in Bexley village has shown
“it can increase footfall”. This was a bit of a lame argument. Bexley was a part
time, 16 hours a week library and is now a part time 25 hours a week library.
There is little scope for increasing the hours of a full time council library.
Ms. KMB said only that community management is a second class option. Councillor
Sawyer had not shot any fatal holes in the petitioners’ argument so cabinet
member Don Massey took over the bombardment.
Don Massey began by trying to attack
KMB’s figures, “I’m pretty certain they are not correct”. This is exactly the same tactic he adopted three years ago when
Elwyn Bryant had his petition rejected
on the grounds that the salaries figures he presented as examples of
grossly excessive pay were all wrong. It was in fact me who argued strongly that
his figures should be exactly those shown on Bexley council’s website or they
wouldn’t listen to him. It made no difference, they still claimed that Elwyn’s
figures were wrong.
If petitioners or indeed the population at large wants to argue with Bexley
council they really must not assume they are dealing with reasonable people.
They are not. The central core is made up of proven liars, unscrupulous businessmen and
those ready to commit criminal acts in the sure knowledge that Bexley police
will always come to their rescue.
Massey wanted to know if KMB had visited Bexley and Slade Green libraries. She
had but at Bexley was only able to speak to the council employed librarian. The
volunteer turned up late and was taken up with another matter and never seen
again. In Slade Green no one could be bothered to offer an appointment.
When that line of attack failed to do serious damage Massey changed tack and
referred to a leaflet put out by the Bexley Civic Society. It apparently said
“it may be worth remembering that Bexley library was closed some time ago and is
now open as a community amenity“. “Would you now accept that is a false
statement?“ Massey asked. Surely that is desperate nit picking on his part and
shows just how shallow his mind must be? Everyone would know what the Civic Society
meant by their statement, pedantically it only closed as a council run library
and was immediately reopened under new management, and secondly why was KMB
being held responsible for what the Civic Society said? Pathetic point scoring
to make himself look clever in the eyes of his equally pathetic colleagues.
KMB reminded Massey that the council’s proposals included full closure even
though that may not be their preference. Massey confirmed she “was quite right”
but he still demanded to know if the Civic Society’s statement was correct. A
display of mind blowing pedantry and small mindedness while the audience muttered
about hairs being split and “nothing to do with us”.
The council leader invited councillor
Peter Craske the petition sponsor to speak. Instead of speaking on
behalf of the petitioners he asked Karen M-B why she thought the library was
a valuable resource for the community. Hadn’t she spent the past 18 minutes
telling the purple faced drip that?
She mentioned the scrabble, chess, reading groups, coffee mornings, computer
lessons and stitch crafts. Quite a lot of the users come from Welling because
Blackfen has so much more to offer. Craske managed to get away without actually
speaking up for petitioners or running the risk of his leader’s wrath. He knows
how much he owes her following the events of two and three years ago. His arrest
for Misconduct in Public Office and the subsequent “political interference”.
Labour councillor Joe Ferreira rather cleverly asked one simple question. “Had
the petitioners come across any resident who was in favour of the council’s
proposals?” They had not.
Toni Ainge who is Deputy Director of Leisure and Arts and wife of the Director
(nepotism and its potential for corruption is never far away in Bexley) read out
the council’s proposals referring to the reduced usage and the minimal statutory
requirements. She did not add a lot to the debate. She had done her job and was
presumably reluctant to rework it in the light of the statistics etc. put
forward by the petitioners. Like Massey, she believed the petitioner's figures
were wrong, or as she preferred to put it, out of date. She confirmed that the
consultation responses did not support the council’s money saving plan but
recommended the consultation be disregarded and the plans adopted. It’s Bexley
style democracy and loyalty that should guarantee another salary bonus.
Cabinet Member Gareth Bacon responded with his ritual comment about the
“unprecedented level of central government funding for local government”. It is
a well understood message which has no bearing on KMB’s contention that it was
wrong to contemplate closing Bexley’s second most successful library to save not
a lot more money than Bacon extracts from the public purse each year.
Bacon maintained that swapping Welling for Blackfen would result in fewer residents
being within 1·5 miles of a library. His only other point, if you can believe
that one, is that community management could continue with all the ancillary
services if they so wished. He said he would be voting against the petitioners.
For any serving Tory councillor to vote against the leadership would be
unprecedented, so what hope the deputy leader?
Don Massey chipped in with the fact that he had visited all the libraries. If he
was expecting a round of applause for his diligence he would have been disappointed. He went on to
throw doubt on the council’s own library usage figures used by KMB. Crayford and
Thamesmead had suffered some day closures during the year.
The sour faced Cabinet member Linda Bailey has never displayed any redeeming
features and is resolutely anti every aspect of democracy. Naturally she wanted
to announce that she is not herself a library user and would vote against the
petitioners’ wishes.
Cabinet member John Fuller spoke highly of the community libraries in Blackheath, Lewisham and Sydenham some of which offer full council services.
John Fuller is the only cabinet member who can be relied upon not to make silly
political points and stay within the bounds of truth and relevancy - as far as I
can remember anyway.
Cabinet member for failing Children’s Services, Philip Read, who is everything that Fuller is
not spoke next, launching into a nostalgia fest about horse drawn milk carts
which did not go down well with the audience. He said he would support the
council’s plans. At that point the battle was effectively lost.
Sawyer came back to round things off for the cabinet making another
condescending remark about KMB’s success in gaining 3,017, if worthless,
signatures. Members of the audience tried to interject but she who must be
obeyed quickly shut them up.
The
Labour councillors spoke at some length in support of council run libraries.
They mentioned how the consultation process was poor and how it did not allow a
full range of expression - they never do. That is why the petition was far more
successful in terms of responses.
Councillor Joe Ferreira questioned why the council still believes it is ‘Listening to you, working for you’.
The council leader was visibly bored by being told some home truths and
eventually asked Ferreira “have you finished?” and went on to remind him that she had
won the election in May so his opinion did not count for anything. Cue groans
from the audience who had by now realised that their supposition that Bexley
council was the seat of local democracy was wrecked beyond repair.
Seán Newman went through a list of libraries, including mobile libraries, closed
by Bexley Conservatives and was concerned for Belvedere and its pop in parlour
and the opportunities closure of the Splash Park will give (sale of land for
housing etc.) for a serious loss of amenities in the area. Community libraries
in Bexley had so far proved to be elitist he said to some applause. Teresa
O’Neill could only answer that a Labour administration once closed a library.
Councillor Stefano Borella made a number of points including the fact that
Bexley Conservatives said not a word about their proposal to cut library services
in their election Manifesto. The audience responded, no one else did.
Councillor John Husband wanted to know what would happen to the displaced
librarians. There was no answer to that either.
Councillor June Slaughter who is one of the few remaining Tory councillors still
clinging to a shred of integrity named a string of authority run libraries which
have been “enhanced by considerable capital expenditure and they [the councils]
wondered why Bexley is in such a different position”. Teresa O’Neill responded
only with, “OK , thank you” and moved swiftly on. June would not be popular at
the after meeting drinks party, but she probably isn’t anyway. The councillors
must know by now, June was happy to support me in the case now
being
investigated by Greenwich police. An honest politician, whatever next?
UKIP councillor Lynn Smith asked why the council cannot use some of it reserves.
Teresa O’Neill said that community management brings greater resources to
libraries than the council could. I failed to see the connection.
After Alex Sawyer was allowed to engage in a one direction trade of political insults with
the opposition Teresa O’Neill asked if everyone was in favour of the plans that they had
decided on ages ago. They were.
Twelve whole seconds to agree! They couldn’t even be bothered to find a proposer, a
seconder, or even raise their hands. Is that even legal? Whatever the case it
was all a foregone conclusion.
Incidentally, I do try to be fair to both sides in these reports so I feel duty
bound to say that I know someone living in my road who has joined Lewisham
Library. It's quicker to get to by public transport than Bexleyheath Central and
he says it is better than any Bexley library. I can’t help thinking that it’s a
mistake but his Greenwich Library ticket has opened the door to free swimming
for pensioners too, so maybe Ms. KMB should get across there to see how it is done.
However as a demonstration of how Bexley council will listen to no one, shout
down all opposition and manipulate or invent statistics to favour their
ambitions, the library consultation and debate was something of a classic. There
will be many more in the months to come.