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Are library opening cuts fair?
Nottinghamshire County Council has denied accusations that it is favouring more affluent areas ahead of Eastwood and Kimberley over proposed cuts in library hours following a letter from one of our readers.
Ray Bamford wrote to the Advertiser earlier this month and revealed figures showing that Eastwood and Kimberley libraries are two of the hardest hit among the county’s libraries when you inspect the per centage of hours each library will lose under the plans.
Eastwood library is set to have its opening hours slashed by almost 40 per cent from 43 hours a week to 26, and Kimberley library will have its hours cut by 15 hours per week – also a reduction of almost 40 per cent.
Mr Bamford said library opening hours in struggling areas are being hit more than those in more affluent areas, such as West Bridgford, where the library opening hours have been cut by just eight per cent, or five hours.
He said: “The library in West Bridgford is being knocked down and replaced with a brand new building.
“So not only are the residents of West Bridgford and the surrounding area seeing a reduction in their libraries opening hours of just five hours per week, but they are also to get a brand new building.
“The fact that this new library is just round the corner from County Hall, and that West Bridgford is one of, if not the most affluent area in the whole of the county, with some of the most wealthy and influential people of Nottingham living there, it is difficult not to draw the conclusion that these factors played a big part in the formulation of the current proposals.
“It seems to me that the residents of some of the more deprived areas of the county are going to suffer greater cuts to their library service in order to help fund an improvement to the service in the most affluent areas.”
But when the Advertiser approached the county council about the claims, the authority’s head of libraries, Peter Gaw, denied any ulterior motives.
He added: “Obviously we haven’t approached it with that kind of motivation. There is a logic in trying to keep the larger libraries more accessible.
“They are busier, they have a wider range of facilities, a lot more computers, more stock, and they are more economical to run because more people use them.”
However, Mr Bamford warned that targeting deprived areas could potentially make problems, such as unemployment, worse.
“Eastwood is one of the more deprived areas of the county, and with the current threat of even further reductions in jobs, especially in the public sector, the lack of opening hours to use the public computers to carry out job searches is going to undermine further the ability of local people to regain employment,” he added.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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