A decision to ‘digitalise’ libraries in Bedford Borough will alienate many users and risk an irreversible decline in the service, according to Conservative Cllr Stephen Moon.
At a meeting of the Council on Wednesday, Cllr Moon slammed the Mayor’s Liberal Democrat and Labour administration for pursuing a ‘Library Plus’ model for its libraries in Bedford town centre, Wootton and Bromham in the face of public opposition.
This will introduce self-service hours at these facilities with users accessing the services without assistance from staff. Core, staffed opening hours will be reduced.
At Kempston and Putnoe service users fiercely rejected the self-service model during the recent public consultation, citing concerns around personal safety and anti-social behaviour during unstaffed hours. There was also a strongly held view that many users, particularly elderly and vulnerable persons, would not have the confidence to use the digitalised system without assistance. Both Kempston and Putnoe will, as a result, have reduced opening hours.
At the meeting, Cllr Moon invited councillors to support a proposal which would require the Mayor's Executive to review its decision and adopt instead a Community Service Model; a volunteer-run service which has been successful in growing library services in other local authorities.
After his proposal was rejected by Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors, Cllr Moon said:
‘The Council received expressions of interest from 474 prospective volunteers. This was an opportunity, now squandered, to introduce a volunteer-managed service giving communities ownership of their libraries. This has worked extremely well in Buckinghamshire and elsewhere; reducing significantly the cost to those councils of running their services and enabling many volunteers to play a valued part in their communities.
‘Areas where the concerns around the Library Plus model were most vociferous, namely Kempton and Putnoe, will suffer through reduced opening hours. It is hard to understand how Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors think that is acceptable for those communities.
‘The Mayor’s Executive has once again rushed a decision on the future of a vital service. While financial pressures must be addressed, that is no excuse for a bad decision that defies the wishes of a clear majority of the public who rejected the digitalised library service.’