An executive business report was brought to June’s meeting of the Full Council at Birmingham City Council today 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). The Conservative amendment to the report, which was voted down by Birmingham Labour, highlighted that library membership has increased by nearly 19,000 since 2014 and councillors from all political parties as well as resident groups have questioned if the ongoing consultation is being conducted in good faith.
The amendment continued to say that libraries in the city provided a net positive socio-economic benefit to residents, and as such were an economic asset to the Council. The Conservative amendment concluded by calling for the Council to engage with the consultation honestly, exploring any options which could retain all community libraries if the feedback from said process showed support for the retention of libraries.
The Conservative amendment to the Labour Administration’s report comes 3 months after Birmingham Labour’s budget outlined plans to cut 23 libraries from the service in Birmingham, which the vast majority of Labour councillors in the City voted in favour of.
Commenting, Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives, said:
This is the second time in 3 months that Labour councillors have had a chance to vote in favour of saving the City’s libraries and have decided instead to vote to close 23 libraries across the city – all vital community assets. The hypocrisy is, frankly, staggering. They had the gall to submit petitions to save libraries in the budget meeting before then voting to close them in the same meeting – and today they have stood outside the Council House and nodded along as protesters complained about politicians putting their careers before their principals only to then come inside and vote against trying to save the City’s Libraries.
Cllr Clifton Welch (Con, Kingstanding), in whose name the amendment was seconded, added:
In my campaign in the Kingstanding By-election, one thing I heard over and over was how concerned residents were about the potential closure of Kingstanding and Perry Common Libraries. I promised that I would campaign to save our libraries and that I would take that campaign right to the council chamber. While I’m pleased to have been able to keep that promise, this result is incredibly upsetting. I will continue campaigning against Birmingham Labour’s axing of our much-needed library service.
