The Best Guide for the NN12 Area

Local Labour Party members to protest proposed library cuts

Local Labour Party members to protest proposed library cuts

Labour party activists in South Northants will, on Thursday 14th November 2017, be protesting Northamptonshire County Council’s proposed library cuts. Activists will gather at 4pm outside the library closure consultation, Riverside Resource Centre in Towcester, to talk to the public and raise awareness of the extent of the cuts.  

Northamptonshire County Council is facing extreme financial pressure due, in part, to the austerity agenda. In addition to libraries, the County Council is seeking to cut funding to childcare and buses. The Council website justifies the cuts by saying “Northamptonshire County Council needs to find £115m savings over the next four years predominantly to meet social care costs in the county”.

Yet South Northants has some of the lowest council tax rates in the country. Local Labour Parish Councillor Richard Solesbury-Timms said of the cuts, “Libraries in South Northants are fighting to stay open because of the austerity cuts imposed on them from the county council. Support your library and support the fight on Thursday at the drop-in consultation at Towcester for South Northants libraries”.

Libraries are an essential public service, and local authorities have a statutory duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act (1964) ‘to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons’. Despite this, some of the County Council proposals would see libraries close completely in many parts of the county, including Brackley, Middleton Cheney and Deanshanger. Times and date of the Council’s public consultations, and a full list of the cuts, can be found at:

http://www3.northamptonshire.gov.uk/councilservices/council-and-democracy/budgets-and-spending/Pages/review-of-library-services-in-northamptonshire.aspx

Report this article as inappropriate

Comments

JimmyB

At 19:38 on 16th November 2017, JimmyB commented:

What do the local Labour Party propose as an alternative?

As much as I hate the cuts, some money saving measures have to be made or else everyone loses their job and we have a Council gone bust.

Where have the South Northants Labour lot been over the years and years of budget mismanagement by the Conservatives? Why are we only hearing from you now? Political gain from others mistakes?

[Report this comment as inappropriate]

You need to log in before you can do that! It's only a quick registration process to join the AMA network and completely free.