Councilor suspended from Labour group for opposing library closures

Martin Shipton

A campaigning councillor who spoke out against plans to shut libraries has been suspended from her council Labour group and removed as a member of committees she was sitting on and in one case chaired.

Cllr Brenda Miles represents Nelson on Caerphilly County Borough Council, one of 10 communities in line to lose its library at the end of August under plans approved by the authority’s cabinet despite opposition from a majority of councillors.

Earlier this week we reported how she had argued in an email to council leader Sean Morgan – who also represents Nelson – that the council could be in breach of its legal dirty to provide a “comprehensive” library service.

A motion of no confidence in Cllr Morgan is due to be moved by the Plaid Cymru opposition group at a full council meeting on July 1.

Nation.Cymru was sent email correspondence in which Cllr Miles lambasted the cabinet over its handling of the issue.

‘Misrepresented’

In an email to Cllr Morgan, which was copied to all councillors, Cllr Miles wrote: “I’ve just listened to the cabinet meeting regarding the library closures. I was disappointed that the amended recommendation from scrutiny was disregarded by the cabinet, and also misrepresented.

“I believe I made it clear at joint scrutiny that the planned closure of libraries on August 31 was harsh and unnecessarily disruptive for groups who use the buildings. The peak holiday period over the summer is the most difficult time for groups to work on a plan to save their libraries. I posed the question, why close them all at the same time?

“At cabinet the timeline of closures was not even mentioned and the amendment was incorrectly attributed entirely to looking at alternative delivery models.

“Cabinet’s decision was taken against the wishes of the majority of councillors who met [at the joint scrutiny meeting] on Monday.

“I am at a loss to understand what cabinet found objectionable to the recommendation which would have given local groups more time to work on a plan to save their library. If cabinet believes the August 31 deadline is achievable, given all the support that is promised, what would have been the cost of removing that deadline? Nothing.

“On the other hand, the extra money it might have taken for the council to keep the libraries running for a while longer, beyond August 31, until we know what exactly can be delivered at each of the 10 library locations, is nothing for a multi-million pound organisation that has massive reserves and contingency budgets and can always seem to find money when it needs to.

“I am saddened and disgusted by the cabinet’s lack of care for what the majority of councillors wanted.”

Called in

Days later, Cllr Miles wrote to Robert Tranter, the council’s legal director and monitoring officer, asking for the cabinet’s decision to keep the August 31 closure date to be called in because it had been made without properly considering the legal implications.

Cllr Miles stated: “Cabinet members were made aware in the report that Caerphilly County Borough Council (CCBC) is required by statute to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient library service’ … But it was verbally stated that ‘while we strive to ensure our statutory core business … receive the funding they demand and deserve … we must look to make savings in non-statutory areas … we make cuts to the non-statutory services so we can protect the education budget.”

Cllr Miles added: “Cabinet should be aware of the fact that Jack Sargeant, Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership, said in his introduction to [a document providing advice to councils]: ‘There is a stronger focus on targets that relate to the core aspects of the library service, namely resources, staff, place, and availability which are integral to the statutory requirements of a comprehensive and efficient service.

“Section 3.1 Fulfilling the Statutory Duty states that: ‘The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 … makes it a duty of the relevant Welsh Ministers to secure the proper discharge by local authorities of the functions in relation to libraries conferred upon them as library authorities under this Act. The performance indicators listed here will assist the Welsh Government in assessing whether local authorities in Wales are fulfilling their duties under the 1964 Act.’

Cllr Miles argued: “The reference to cutting non-statutory services appeared to steer the cabinet towards accepting that the cuts to library services were non-statutory. In addition, the report did not advise cabinet that [the council’s] failure to achieve the targets on staffing levels, stock acquisition, opening hours and staff qualifications, as set out in the report, are targets which the Minister considers integral to the statutory requirements. Not meeting them may leave CCBC exposed for failing in its statutory duty to deliver a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library service.”

Mr Tranter responded: “Thank you for your call-in request of the cabinet decision in respect of future library provision within the county borough. However as the cabinet report has already been the subject of pre-decision scrutiny, then the decision cannot be called in.”

Suspended

A Labour source told Nation.Cymru that Cllr Miles had been suspended from the council Labour group and removed from committee roles.

Previously she was chair of the appeals panel, vice chair of the education and social services scrutiny committee, vice chair of the non-domestic ratepayers committee and vice chair of the scrutiny leadership committee. As well as sitting on these committees, she was a member of the Caerphilly standing advisory council on religion, values and ethics, joint scrutiny committee, pensions compensation committee and the planning committee.

Now she is simply a member of the joint scrutiny committee.

The Labour source said: “The fact is that the majority of the Labour group voted against closing the libraries, as did the whole council. Yet the cabinet decided to go ahead with the closures anyway.

“Suspending Brenda Miles for representing the interests of her community is a disgrace.”

Cllr Miles declined to comment.

Cllr Morgan has been invited to comment.