5-year library plan signed off but campaigners still left confused

The council has also come under fire over a DBS safeguarding  system that will be needed if its plan to use volunteers to run libraries has enough interest.

Essex County Council (ECC) had previously unveiled plans to potentially close 25 libraries across the county last year – 19 more would rely heavily on voluntary community involvement.

But the council has said that while its plans to shut branches were now shelved and the system that involved tiering libraries into four bands had also been scrapped, it was nonetheless seeking volunteers to keep the small branches open.

As a former tier three library, Shenfield has been identified as a potential community-run branch. A petition in support of it received nearly 9,000 signatures – more than any other.

But Shenfield campaigner Sue Matthews remains unconvinced at the council’s long term aspirations.

She said: “There is still no clarity over any of the ECC run libraries they are obfuscating altogether.

“On the one hand they are promising consultation but on the other when it comes to the nitty gritty they are promising Shenfield a conversation.

“There is still this talk of working with communities to deliver what they want. We are not convinced that that is what they are doing.

“There is no indication of when there is going to be detail issued.

“There is a huge lack of confidence about whether this strategy has been put forward in good faith. Because they still seem to be concealing what their real plans are.

“It’s all very well saying there’ll be a library in five years but it could be for half hours at the back of the Co-op or something.”

Labour councillor Ivan Henderson said he was not convinced at ECC’s ability to ensure proper safeguarding.

He said: “The world out there is dangerous. We need to make sure that anyone who is taking on those responsibilities within these facilities we can rely on and trust and I don’t believe we are at the stage yet that we can start opening up some of these libraries to those circumstances.”

Susan Barker, cabinet member with responsibility for libraries, said: “We will make sure everyone working in our libraries is suitably trained whether it be a volunteer or member of staff. Just as we do now with our 600 volunteers who help with summer reading challenges .”

She added that many libraries will likely move.

She said: “Why wouldn’t we move to a different building if it’s a better place for that library to be in?

“I can think of several  of our libraries even the smaller ones that are not welcoming but several of our libraries are.”

She added: “Some of our libraries are not fit for purpose.”

Library campaigner Megan Daigle from Wivenhoe said that women will be hard hit by the changes and that 80 groups which have come forward showing interest have been effectively coerced.

She said: “Hardworking families are still reeling from the recession and cuts to services of all kinds.

“Asking communities to run their own basic public services without pay amounts to holding them hostage.

“Work for us or lose your services. This is what it means when you say ‘if they so wish’.

“These are the terms under which these 80 groups have supposedly come forward.”

She said the people most dependent on libraries are elderly, homeless, people with disabilities and children, who do not have the resources to run their own services.

“This is what they and all of us rely on elected representatives and civil servants to do,” she added.

“And with all possible respect, this will fall harder on women in our communities.

“The international labour organisation, the gender development network and many other respected organisations have produced research showing women do a disproportionate amount of unpaid work and that includes community volunteering.

“So this will have a downward pressure on women’s paid employment and wellbeing in our communities.”

ECC says the system is broken and needs remodelling to stop further declines in library usage.