An unpopular decision made by Denbighshire County Council’s Labour/Plaid Cabinet to drastically reduce library opening times at all libraries across the county is to be returned to the Cabinet for reconsideration following a call-in by the Denbighshire Conservative Group last week.
At a lengthy Special Meeting of the Council’s Communities Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, members voted in favour of asking the Cabinet to postpone the decision to cut library services by 40% until further exploratory work has been done to identify alternative funding sources available to the council, or other partner bodies, whether in the private or public sector.
The vote was taken after a lively debate which started with the five signatories of the call-in, Cllrs Hugh Irving, Terry Mendies, Justine Evans, Brian Jones and James Elson, outlining their reasons for taking such action.
Leading, Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Irving, who submitted the notice of call-in on December 29th, said:
“We really should be proud of this small, efficient, high performing service, instead of treating it as a soft target on which service cuts can be imposed.”
He referred to a visit he made to Prestatyn Library last Tuesday, where he witnessed a "warm, busy premises”, being used by all age groups.
“Public feedback I have received seems to indicate a demoralised staff thinking that after years of loyal service they are undervalued and not wanted. I wonder if this is a good way to treat staff.”
Cllr Irving, who represents Prestatyn Central ward, also questioned whether “cuts of this magnitude would be imposed on any other of our services”.
Cllr Justine Evans, who represents Rhyl East, expressed concern about the impact the cuts would have on vulnerable children and young people, particularly in Rhyl where deprivation levels are high.
She said:
“Sadly there are a great many children and young people out there who don’t have a warm, quiet space to study.
“Every child deserves to have the same opportunities, regardless of their background, and I believe Denbighshire County Council would be denying our young people this if they push ahead with these reduced opening hours.”
Cllr James Elson, Trefnant, said libraries are a core service for people of all ages. He described the 40% cut to library services as “unfair and disproportionate” and said he fears that if they go ahead they will never be reversed.
He said:
“I believe it is a one way street for libraries down which we should not turn.
“These proposals should be returned to Cabinet and put on the spike of bad ideas.”
Cllr Brian Jones, who represents Rhyl Ty Newydd ward, said:
“We understand the pressures on the council as a whole, but this particular saving should not be on the table.”
Summing up later, he added:
“It is quite clear from the atmosphere here in the chamber and from comments around and about Denbighshire, that nobody wants this cut back in library services.”
Cllr Terry Mendies, Alyn Valley, challenged the outlined cost savings.
He said:
“The survey returned 4,600 responses with 95% against the closures. So the wishes of 4,370 residents are being ignored by a Cabinet decision of 9 people.
“The closures are supposed to be about saving money, but it won't. The biggest cost to running the libraries is staff. Nobody is being made redundant, and the library staff will be reassigned to other departments. The proposed £330,000 "savings" is just creative accounting because they will still be on the DCC payroll.”
Rhuddlan Cllr Ann Davies highlighted that the town has the highest percentage of residents over 80 years in Denbighshire, and that the library staff do incredible work to support the wellbeing of these residents, from complex form filling, paying bills, social gatherings and much more.
She said:
“All this helps keep residents independent for as long as possible.
“Also the many children attending the library are encouraged to read books which in turn helps with their education.
“I believe that by reducing the library hours we are doing a great injustice to our residents. It will have detrimental implications which could put pressure on other DCC services. It will come back and bite us!”
St Asaph Cllr Peter Scott, referred to the additional funding for St Asaph Library which has been provided by St Asaph City Council over a number of years and said while this has resulted in the cut for St Asaph Library being negotiated down to 33%, he is still concerned about the proposals.
He said:
“Back in 2016 when the City Council did a service level agreement with Denbighshire to pay £12,000 a year to help with the cost of running the library, at that time we thought everyone was doing it, when in fact we found out after that in was only ourselves and Rhuddlan who joined in with that.”
Cllr Scott said to date the City Council have paid £84,000 into St Asaph Library, which they could have “done a great deal with in St Asaph.”
Other Councillors from the Independent group also spoke out against the planned cuts.
Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies, who has been against the proposals since they were first mooted, and highlighted his many concerns to the Council, said:
“I am extremely pleased that this decision has been paused and will be returning to the Cabinet for them to look at it again. The council needs to manage its budget in a strategic way, rather than attempting to pick off valuable services in this way.”
Vale of Clwyd MS Gareth Davies, who has also opposed the cuts, said:
“I would like to thank Cllr Hugh Irving for calling in the Cabinet’s decision to cut library services, the four other signatories, and all the other councillors who supported it.
“Whilst I appreciate that Denbighshire County Council needs to present a balanced budget, such huge decisions, which will impact so many in our communities, should not be taken without first exploring all avenues.”
