Library closures
Posted by Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, at 09:50, Fri 14 January 2011:
News that North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) is considering withdrawing funding for many libraries in the county is very concerning. In my constituency three libraries are affected – Bilton, Starbeck and Boroughbridge.
In Boroughbridge the Town Council working with other community groups is already looking to take over the running of the library.
However, in Bilton and Starbeck many residents are concerned that the withdrawal of funding by the County Council will lead to closure.
I have said it many times before. The County Council need to think carefully about where to make budget cuts. Withdrawing funding to local libraries is not the answer when there are so many other savings that could be made instead. Councils must look first at cuts to bureaucracy and back office functions. Many local authorities are implementing innovative schemes to save cash and protect the services people most value - it is these areas where North Yorkshire County Council must start.
When I was in charge of the finances on Harrogate Borough Council we reduced the Council Tax increases year on year until there was a tax freeze last year. We didn’t close any public services despite grant settlements from government which were much lower than similar councils received. We renovated the Royal Hall and Starbeck Baths. Grants to voluntary groups such as the theatre and the International Festival were preserved and new annual grant awards made.
I’ve launched a petition calling on the County Council to maintain funding for Bilton and Starbeck libraries. Residents wishing to support the online campaign can do so at www.petition.co.uk/save-bilton-library for Bilton or www.petition.co.uk/save-starbeck-library for Starbeck. Please do pass these web addresses on to family and friends. The more signatures we get the greater our chance of making the County Council listen.
Andrew Jones MP andrew.jones.mp@parliament.uk 01423 529614
Comments
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Posted by A R Brown, 10:13, Fri 14 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
This applies equally to the Mobile Library service that it also under threat.
This provides a much needed service to those in outlying areas that cannot get to libraries in towns, particularly those who are indisposed or less mobile than they would wish to be.
The library service needs to be considered as a whole, and the impact of withdrawing any part of it assessed properly with the views of individuals being taken into consideration, rather than closures and cancellations of services being imposed.
Posted by Marie Parker, 16:43, Fri 14 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Money could be save making public buildings more energy efficient. Today I was in the Youth Centre near Harrogate high school and the rooms where overheated, no thermostatic valves on radiators, no chronostat(thermostat with programable clock) and most of windows open. NYCC changed the outside door recently and didn't upgrade for better efficiency. I find this waste shocking.
Posted by Richard, 14:37, Sat 15 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
As a local parish priest, I think that promotion of green issues are a very important step towards cutting costs in the current economic climate. I am currently in consultation with the diocese bishop to offer 'eco-sinners' the chance to confess in what will be the first, ever, 'green' confessional booth.
There are various other small steps we can all take to re-cycle domestic waste and reduce Harrogate council expenditure. Scientists have discovered a way of using eggshells from ordinary chickens to absorb carbon dioxide. This is said to be the first use for them except, of course, for those used by Gordon Brown to tread on.
There are of course some totally pointless initiatives. In 2008, explorer Pen Hadow trekked 2,000km across the North Pole, dragging a radar to probe the thickness of the ever-shrinking ice-cap. Nobody had told him it would be easier to gauge it using a dipstick.
To finish, I would just like to point out that all UK homes could be powered by offshore wind farms by 2020 as part of the fight against climate change, under plans unveiled by John Hutton. Senior Tory Alan Duncan backed the plans, adding: “We’re an island nation. There’s a lot of wind around.”
Indeed.
P.S. I look forward to hearing Andrew's confessions. Should I have labelled this appendum P.P.S, in that case?
Posted by ROBERT CHERRY, 17:39, Sun 16 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
I think the library will be the least of our problems. If the council has to make cuts it has to make cuts. You cant keep all of the people happy all of the time. Anyway, isnt this the Conservatives own policies in action? I cant see how Conservative MPs can complain about it
Posted by David Graham, 20:23, Fri 21 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
John, Alan, and Richard think that all homes could be powered by wind. Wasn't it still during the recent cold spell? No wind. No power.
Posted by Marie Parker, 22:16, Fri 28 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Making cuts is one thing. Encouraging the local economy is another another thing to consider. I was surprised when I received a letter from the government that the choice of courier was not our Dear Royal Mail but an American company. I have just submitted my tax return and the bank the the Inland Revenue uses to collect our tax is not one of the UK banks we have rescued wit our tax but a famous Spanish Bank. For the infamous incinerator, NYCC has chosen a company based in Andorra a tax haven outside the European Union. The list is long, sometime because we have killed the local businesses when buying away from home. No paper used by Harrogate Borough Council is made in the UK. Our money is hemorrhaging abroad. It will be lovely if more of us start to think LOCAL, our Local Post Office, Local products in our local shop, our local builder, our Library. To rent the car from your neighbour or to them go to www.WhipCar.com. Another suggestion is for NYCC to review the rate they pay their staff to travels, why are the polluters with big cars engines payed more per miles that staff with energy efficient cars?
Posted by ROBERT CHERRY, 12:43, Sun 30 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Just curious if Andrew reads the responses. I havent seen any replies to comments left as of yet?
Posted by Andrew Jones, 17:17, Mon 31 January 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
I do read the responses but very much view this as being a forum for others to comment on my posts rather than for me to post responses to my own posts! If subscribers want me to comment in threads I'm more than happy to do so.
Suffice to say on your earlier points, cuts are not 'Conservative policy in action'. Firstly, it's a coalition and secondly, if getting the public finances under control wasn't a consideration there would be no need for any cuts.
Local Councils need to make choices over where cuts fall (and where savings can be made too) just in the same way that Government departments do. There are very few easy solutions and while I sympathise with North Yorkshire County Council they do need to realise just how much the community values the local libraries and the mobile libraries too. Local Councils need to make choices over where cuts fall (and where savings can be made too) just in the same way that Government departments do. There are very few easy solutions and while I sympathise with North Yorkshire County Council they do need to realise just how much the community values the local libraries and the mobile libraries too.
Posted by ROBERT CHERRY, 18:43, Wed 2 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Andrew, thanks for you reply. Sorry, yes coalition I realise that cuts are necessary due to the overspend by previous govenment(s?) I also realise that libraries are important to the local community especially the elderly. But like you say the County Council have to find the financial reduction and Im sure that theyve looked at the fact that Harrogate has the revamped main library in town as well as Starbeck and Bilton locally. Maybe they believe rightly or wrongly that free bus passes mean a lot of people can travel to the library in town at no cost. Mobile libraries I believe are a completely different matter however. They provide an invaluable service in rural areas. I also believe funding for the theatre is to be cut? Anyway, forgive my rant, I'm a former civil servant and part of the 'cuts'
Posted by Conor McKenzie, 17:21, Sat 12 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Robert, I very much agree with you when you say that this is 'Conservative own policy in action'.
It is very much the Conservatives who are to blame for these closures. Despite them being a part of a coalition government with the Lib Dems, these cuts would have happened anyway. After all, is it not the Conservative Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, who is responsible for these cuts? Not forgetting the Conservative County Council that proposed them to our local libraries.
Although I cannot agree with you that libraries are the least of our worries – do you not think that perhaps these cuts could be better made than closing our Starbeck library for example, shortly after £545,000 had been spent on refurbishments?
The Conservatives are very much responsible for this, with no exception to Andrew Jones of which only turned up during the protests for a short period of time in order to get his picture in the Advertiser.
Posted by Richard Cooper, 16:18, Sun 13 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
I know Conor is an activist for a political party opposed to Mr Jones but this doesn't mean he can make things up. Whatever his views on who is responsible for the cuts (and the Lib Dems can't only be responsible for nice things surely) I have to put something right.
Andrew Jones attended the event at just gone 11.15am. He came straight from a constituency surgery. The photo happened at approximately 11.25am. Andrew left the event at around 12.20pm to attend another constiuency surgery. I know this because I am Andrew's Office Manager.
He was out knocking on doors in Bilton yesterday talking to people about the library, has delivered hundreds of leaflets about the issue, met County Councillors and senior officers and so on.
To say he turned up just to get his photo in the paper and only stayed for a short time is just plain wrong and needs correcting.
Posted by Richard, 18:21, Tue 15 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
I happened to pass one of these protests, on the way to Vespers, and found it an extremely uncomfortable experience.
Terrible shame that libraries have become another battleground for our local politicians. Indeed their coalition behaves just like a married couple: an intimate relationship recognised both by the church and the police.
We must not forget that our local libraries are not just...errrrmmmm..libraries but also focal points for our communities.
I do look forward to the other little library-centric activities. Especially Cllr. Geoff Webber's annual talk on his collection of garden gnomes punctuated by a spontaneous rendition of 70's classic 'Radar Love' on air-guitar accompanied by Cllr Andrew Goss on spoons, if he hasn't nodded off.
Perhaps Richard Cooper: bon viveur, raconteur and desperately in need of a decent haircut could give us a little talk on his role as MP's Office Manager. I'm sure he could keep us all thoroughly entertained with his timekeeping exploits, sartorial influences and special responsibility of keeping parliamentarians' desks clear of empty sweet wrappers.
Whatever happens, remember God loves us all and especially loves the Council Tax exemption on my home/
Posted by Conor McKenzie, 19:55, Tue 15 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Whether those timings are absolutely accurate, I'm unsure. Though the internet is hardly a place for a debate.
There were a good number of people after Mr Jones left that almost expected him to be there. Unfortunately.
I'm sure people were as shocked as I was when they saw a tall, silver haired man standing front and centre on the front page of the Advertiser, as if it was him who had organised the event.
Richard, regardless of somebodies political affiliation, I don't believe that could ever give them a reason to think it gives them a reason to make things up. Furthermore, it is my understanding that it was simply an expression of my opinion and those of some of people who arrived after the relatively short period of time Mr Jones had been at the protest.
Finally, of course the Conservatives are not responsible for all the cuts and I'm sure we'd agree that it's sadly the previous government that's ultimately to blame.
Although, the Conservatives are to blamed for the library closures, for the reasons detailed previously, regardless of whether you and Andrew are rebelling against party policy. I fear the Conservatives haven't learnt from their last term in government with cuts on a whole though. George Osborne needs to realise that to abolish the deficit in 5 years is not practical - it could affect our economy for the worse, causing mass unemployment - perhaps similar to that under Thatcher less than 30 years ago.