Thursday, 14th October, 2010 7.00 pm
Cabinet Minutes:
The Council received two petitions against the proposed closure of Baron’s Court Library. One with 2350 signatures and the other signed by 28 residents of North End House and West Kensington Court, W14. In addition, 8 students of Normand Croft Primary School also submitted letters asking for the library to remain open. The Petition prayer was:-
“H&F Council plan to close Barons Court Library, as part of its library strategy. We, the undersigned local residents and/or users of the library, wish to register our objection to this proposal, and the lack of a meaningful and transparent consultation process. We call upon H&F Council to:
(i)Find a strategy to keep our library open.
(ii) Consult in a meaningful and transparent manner with the local residents on any future proposals affecting the library”.
Patsy Heavey and Chris Johnston addressed Cabinet in support of the petition requesting for the library to stay open at its current purpose built location providing improved and value for money services. She also asked the Council to properly engage residents and services users in any future consultation.
In response, Councillor Smith agreed with the need to streamline backroom support and cut staffing costs while improving investment in library stock. Officers will look at the Hillingdon and Westminster models before a decision was made. The Leader stated that books had to be at the heart of the library. The Council was interested to note that Avonmore Primary School used it as its school library. He reiterated that the current high labour cost and low level of material investment model was not sustainable. A new operating model had to be found in order for the library to stay open.
Cabinet thanked Ms Heavey and Mr Johnston for taking their time to attend the meeting.
RESOLVED:
That Officers undertake further research into the matter and report back to Cabinet as part of the Library Strategy review later in the year.
Full Cabinet Minutes
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