Council ‘needs to start listening’ over library closures

Campaigners against library closures in hope the county borough council will “u-turn” on the plans amid new questions over its finances.

Caerphilly Trades Union said there is “disbelief” unspent cash has been funnelled into Caerphilly council reserves rather than used to keep libraries open.

The council’s leader, however, warned against “cherry picking” of financial details, and said the cash-strapped local authority was anticipating further multimillion-pound budget pressures.

Senior councillors agreed in May to close down ten of the borough’s smaller libraries at the end of August, as part of wider cost-cutting plans.

Better service

The council argues it can provide a better service by developing fewer “hubs” where book-borrowing is offered alongside other local authority and third-sector support.

But the move has proved unpopular with library users who claimed villages would be left isolated, without public spaces, if their libraries were axed.

Caerphilly Trades Union Council, which has been a vocal critic of the council’s proposed closures, claimed plans for an “unspent” £5 million in the council’s budget for last year “have been met with disbelief locally”.

That money “could secure the future of the ten libraries the council wants to close – for many years to come”, the organisation said.

“Public outrage has forced Keir Starmer to make u-turns,” added Caerphilly Trades Union Council secretary, Mariam Kamish. “We hope to make Caerphilly Council do the same.

“We need local libraries. They’re so much more than book depositories. They’re the only public spaces left in some of our communities – and we’re not prepared to see them close. The council needs to start listening.”

Financial challenges

The council’s leader, Cllr Sean Morgan, defended the recent budget report and suggested “some people are keen to cherry pick information that supports their view and ignore information that contradicts it”.

He said the council had been “very clear” about the scale of its financial challenges, and had made £110 million in savings in the past decade.

Its current expected budget gap could grow from £29 million to around £36 million, he added.

Cllr Morgan said a recent transfer of £6.4 million into the local authority’s General Fund reserves “can be interpreted as an underspend”.

But that “ignores the fact that the Welsh Government had given a very welcomed, one-off, grant of £5.6 million – which is not a recurring grant – so skewed this year’s figures”.

On the council’s proposals for the libraries, Cllr Morgan said the “clear strategic vision” would include plans to “revitalise” smaller sites by expanding childcare provision and inviting interested community groups to take over their running.

He said there had been “strong community interest in taking on library buildings, supporting a sustainable, community-focused hub model”.

“Regardless of what the cherry pickers may say, this council still has to deal with an expected £36 million budget gap to fund pay awards, increased national insurance, additional learning needs demands, temporary accommodation costs – and of course what all households are experiencing and understand, inflationary increases,” he added.

A council committee will discuss the next steps for the at-risk libraries at a meeting on Tuesday July 15.