Lynda Hayward has asked me to post this full response to Roy Darke's comments
at the start of this thread:
Item 1. The Facts
It was me who wrote the blog that has offended Cllr. Darke and me that spoke on
Thursday, I apologise that I have caused him offence. However I am new to
politics, in fact until the press release of the 26th November when the Council
announced its intention to "cease funding for 20 of the 43 facilities that
currently operate in the county" I can honestly say I had little interest in
local or national politics. Like most of the residents in the City I didnโt
know what was going on and why nobody seemed to want to tell me. And the more
the story has unfurled the harder it is to understand. Especially when
Headington is the 3rd most used library in the city and the 8th in the county.
Yes I know the County and the Country are financially in a mess but, as a
retired teacher, I know that generations worked hard to ensure that education
is a right, not a privilege, and the loss of free access to books locally will
have a huge impact on children. But it is not just children it is the elderly,
the disabled and the people living in disadvantaged areas who will bear the
greatest loss from these closures, the weakest members of our society least
able to defend themselves.
Fact, to the statement the plans to restructure the library service have been
done without consultation and do therefore not meet the needs of the community
which the libraries serve.
Cllr. Heathcote has replied "the library proposals are just that and
consultation is to take place".
Fact, to the question: Is the consultation which is going to begin in the
Spring, after the budget is set, consultation about the original decision to
close the libraries or consultation about submitting the bids for community
libraries run by volunteers?
Simon Kearney the Council Officer who I have listened to at the Sandhills and
Summertown Area Meeting stated "the consultation is about community bids".
So there is my problem.
On the 8th Jan at the Public Meeting in Headington I heard people talking about
the 1964 Act, the legal position and the Wirral Report. So I went away and
asked questions that no one would answer. So I read the 1964 Public Libraries
and Museum Act, I found out about Public Inquiries and Judicial Reviews and I
read all 92 pages of the Wirral Report (report of the public inquiry held to
determine if the Wirral was in breach of its statutory duty under the Act). It
seemed to me that the need to provide for all these vulnerable groups was very
important and it was also very important to make sure you consulted and
undertook assessments of the community needs. Then on the 17th I wrote to
Cllrs. Mitchell and Heathcote and got a very prompt reply, same day, giving
answers to some of the issues I had raised. So now with my nine-day knowledge
of the law I was beginning to understand why people were talking about the
legal issues and I was wondering what the legal professionals made of the whole
thing.
So then I tried to find out what was happening nationally. All over the country
libraries are under threat of closure and campaigns are trying to stop it. In
some areas Judicial Reviews are underway, but this is a complex and costly
business and it is only in areas where there is a legal team willing to work
for nothing that this route can be considered. In some areas they are hanging
back and waiting to see what happens with these legal challenges.
In some counties they have already gone through this process, volunteer groups
are running the libraries. They have been given the books, resources, access to
central services and the library buildings on a peppercorn rents but they have
been given no long-term guarantees about the future and volunteers are not easy
to find. In some areas it is already breaking down. Nationally, campaigners are
trying to maintain the existing, professionally run, local libraries and stop
these cuts that will rip the heart out of our cultural and intellectual
heritage. Library groups must work together, to save all of our local
libraries.
Cllr Mitchell has said we have to make choices about where the cuts should
fall. He thinks libraries are not as important as hospitals which save lives,
but libraries do save lives, reading will not only save your life it will make
it.
So, one month in politics is enough, I do not care for the attitudes I have
found. I do not like the fact that the leader of our county accuses
distinguished authors of having a vested interest in libraries. In other places
they would be proud to have such great men living amongst them. I do not know
him but I am sure Philip Pullman will survive very nicely if he never sells
another book. Celebrities attract and bring publicity to a cause.
Item 2. Save Headington Library "Committee"
Following the 8th Jan Meeting 200 people filled in forms stating their opinions
and if they were prepared to help or were interested in being on the committee,
these people have been contacted personally and are still being contacted.
Mainly this has been done by two volunteers. Many people are happy to help with
leaflets and petitions but not the duties of the committee. It also appears
that there are some people who cannot work with others in our community because
of their previous experiences. There are others who do not like the political
affiliations of others. There are others who have changed their mind about
total involvement and others who cannot now commit to the amount of time needed
in this initial period, which needs considerable man hours. It very quickly
became apparent that assembling a committee was no easy task. People have been
asking about the committee: it will soon be holding its first full meeting. It
is only then it will be possible to nominate roles and responsibilities.
This is a political minefield and the Committee have to be able to work with
those of all parties. There are so many local groups, residents groups,
churches, schools etc who will need to be involved but to have a committee with
representation of all groups would be unworkable. The aim is to have a
community link role on the committee, which will be a key person who will meet
other groups and provide them with regular written updates and also bring their
feedback to the committee. The Council say there has been consultation about
the closures, well Iโd like to see the evidence of which local representatives
of our community provided this.
Communication has been difficult because lots of communication system have been
started all over the city and Headington. We intend to provide news feeds to
all and hope they will all carry our news, but with official Website and
separate email addresses relating to specific areas of the campaign as a whole,
one person is currently answering all emails.
So there seem to have been some campaigning against the cuts, that is because
of the nature of the meetings that have been happening around the city. The
local groups are only now starting to form themselves and linking up with other
groups. And in the 21st Century in Oxfordshire no one is going to tell me I
should not attend any specific public meeting.
The Aims of any group should be
(1) To save all the local libraries from the cuts.
(2) If this fails to fight and make a case just for Bury Knowle.
(3) If this fails and it is certain that the cuts are to go ahead as stated, to
work out how a community bid will work, find financial support and income
generating ideas and produce a working model, in conjunction with the advice of
the local authority.
As the campaign progresses we may need to add additional people but we have
tried to get a wide spread of librarians, fundraisers, business people etc so
we have all areas covered. We have a mailing list of 150 people who can offer
different skills when we ask.
But this is my personal opinion, I do not have a mandate to speak for the group
at this point although I will be on the committee. Some of those who started
the process in the snow will not be on the committee because of other
commitments.
This has brought many good people out of the community who will not let our
library close. One thing that is sure that in whatever form the Library
survives it will have a far greater involvement by members of the community.
And also remember those people who are available for voluntary work were
probably already doing it, the library has brought a whole group of different
community members out of the woodwork who are prepared to fight for our Library
run by professional library staff.