Birmingham Local Conservative councillors were told this weekend past, that despite there being an ongoing consultation, community libraries are being placed on temporary timetables, and will be closed 1 additional day per week.
An executive business report on the state of the City’s libraries was brought to June’s meeting of the Full Council at Birmingham City Council by the Deputy Leader, Cllr Sharon Thompson (Lab, Edgbaston North) and the Cabinet Member for Digital, Culture, Heritage and Tourism, Cllr Saima Suleman (Lab, Hall Green North). Birmingham Local Conservatives submitted an amendment to that report calling for a commitment to meaningful consultation with the public on the use and future of community libraries.
The amendment also called for the Council to explore any options which could retain all community libraries if the feedback from the process showed support for their retention. Despite many publicly claiming to support the libraries in their own local area, Labour councillors voted down the amendment.
Despite no mention of it in the cabinet member’s report, just days later it was revealed that those libraries would be moving on to a temporary timetable and closed for an additional day each week. Library staff would be moved around sites within the city due to a reduction in the workforce as the Labour Administration begins the process of making cuts to the library service before the consultation has been completed.
Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives, Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) said:
Now we know why Labour voted down our amendment at Full Council, and why they refused to commit to a meaningful consultation. Simply put, they had already decided to begin winding up the library service in the city, having planned this cloak-and-dagger attack. This consultation was never intended to inform the Labour Administration's decisions and has been conducted in bad faith from the start.
Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley), Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives added:
This whole exercise has just been about box-ticking for the Labour group in Birmingham. The total disregard and contempt this obvious stitch-up shows for residents and service users is disgusting. The people of Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield deserve meaningful consultation, especially when we have shown the decision the Labour Administration has made to close so many libraries is unnecessary, with alternative budget savings possible.
