Libraries face survival battle- Hampstead, Belsize and Chalk Farm to go it alone...or shut

IT’S official: from next year library branches in Hampstead, Belsize Park and Chalk Farm will no longer be run by the Town Hall after a final bid for a policy re-think was rejected.

A plan to find 25 per cent cuts to the council’s leisure budget – about £1.6million – has been drawn up that will see the three branches handed over to unspecified community groups or closed altogether. 

The deal was agreed last month but Conservative  councillors “called in” the decision, which meant that a committee of councillors officially reviewed the proposals on Monday night. 

At a fractious meeting, members again approved the plans.

The meeting heard three Conservative councillors, Andrew Mennear, Don Williams and Clare-Louis Leyland, ask for firm information they say has yet to be provided as to how the new system would work. 

They asked the Town Hall to seek partnerships with other councils as alternative way of keeping the libraries open. Private companies could also run the branches, the Tories suggested.

The proposals also mean the Regent’s Park branch will close, and Highgate Library will have to find new income from letting out space or face an uncertain future.

Conservative group leader Councillor Andrew Mennear said: “We need clearer details – for example, will members of these libraries be able to use others run by the council?”

A deputation led by Camden Public Library User Group chairman Alan Templeton called for across-the-board cuts to opening hours and greater use of volunteers to keep libraries running.

Mr Templeton said afterwards: “We showed that the required savings could be obtained without threatening the existence of public libraries. 

“The only reason I can put forward for the politicians’ determination not to change the decision was that they preferred to fight with the borough’s population rather than the borough’s officers.”

Leisure chief Labour councillor Tulip Siddiq said: “Now interested groups can start discussing the way forward. 

“The call-in has lost us valuable time, but I am adamant we can now prove our community will be able to continue providing libraries in the face of large Conservative government cuts to our budget.”

Published: 21 July 2011
by DAN CARRIER