Kedington Meets To Save Library.

Approximately 40 people were present including the four people on the platform: Borough councillor Marion Rushbrook, county councillor Anne Gower, parish clerk Marion Farrant who acted as secretary for the meeting and parish council chairman Terry Wheeler who chaired the meeting. Mr Wheeler opened the meeting saying that there there was only one item on the agenda, the possible closure of Kedington Library. He went on to note that Kedington was one of the most expensive libraries per user in the county and the second least used. He then asked for a show of hands to establish the general view of the meeting as to whether those present thought an attempt should be made to save the library from closure. All but a few raised their hands in support of this and when asked if anybody was against not a single hand was raised.

The meeting was then opened to the floor for comments and suggestions from the congregation. To start the ball rolling Mr Wheeler suggested that one possible solution was for Kedington Parish Council to take over the library, run it and fund it. It was at this point that one of the main difficulties facing any attempt to save the library became apparent. To take over the running of Kedington Library with access remaining to the central services of the Suffolk Library Service, which would be vital to maintain any real resemblance to the library as we know it, a business plan would have to be submitted to and accepted by Suffolk County Council. This would have to include a financial plan. However the consultation documents do not make it clear as to what Suffolk would expect Kedington to pay for. The consultation describes the total cost of Kedington Library as just under £50,000, but a closer look at the figures show that only £24,000 of that is actually from the running of services in Kedington and the rest is central office support costs. This leaves the village to formulate a business plan where the cost could vary by %108 depending on whether or not Suffolk expect us to pay for the central office costs they claim are ours. Many present expressed their shock and anger at the way Suffolk has set up the process without making clear what costs they expect villages to mitigate to maintain their services, with one resident, Daphni Smith, describing the situation as "Ludicrous". The meeting was further shocked to hear from County Councillor Anne Gower who had personally asked for clarification from Suffolk Library Services on the subject, but had been told they could not give any. This prompted several present to voice the conclusion that Suffolk were deliberately rigging the process make it impossible to save any libraries they had marked for closure.

Related Stories: Library Closure Threat: Threat To Close Kedington Library - KCA Funding Could Also Be Hit. 25/1/11 Kedington Meets To Save Library. 23/3/11

Various suggestions were made with regard to how one might preserve library services within the village. Terry Wheeler put forward proposals from members of the parish council that Kedington Parish Council would take over running of the Library and pay for it out of the village precept (The part of council tax that goes to the parish council). However he went on to say that the plan was based on the £24,000 estimate of cost and that even this would require a raising the annual precept from £46 for a band C property to £75. He said that if Suffolk were willing to accept this plan there would be a referendum of the village before any such rise or plan were put in to action. It was then raised that the costs could be higher than suggested because Kedington would have to take on the current librarian and that although her basic wage was factored in Kedington could end up responsible for the whole cost of her pension. It was also raised that given Suffolk's stated desirer to outsource all services it may hand the running of central office functions for the library service to a private company forcing us to pay for those services after all.

Some suggestions were made as to ways to mitigate the cost. Suggestions of using voluntary staff were dismissed by Terry Wheeler as something he was not keen to contemplate as although voluntary staff could work to begin with he saw it as inevitable that after a year or so getting staff to handle some shifts would become more and more difficult if not impossible.

Sponsorship was also suggested and met with a positive response. It was further suggested that even if sponsorship could not be found immediately or in such amounts as would cover the whole cost of the library it could be used to lower the amount the library took from the precept when it was found so the council tax rate could then be lowered again.

It was also suggested that some of the Library space could be given over to something else. One suggestion was that instead of building a purpose built office for the Parish council as currently proposed the Council could rent some of the library as office space. Another suggestion was that some kind of cafe could be created in the library raising funds to aid it's running costs.

Thoughts also turned to what could be done if Suffolk did withdraw all support from the Library. Throughout the evening the importance of making books available to children and of the libraries internet connection to those who did not have one at home was raised on several occasions as reasons why the library should not close. It was suggested that both internet services and a children's book area could be maintained as part of a cafe setting.

The evening closed with the formation of a committee to put together a business plan to present to Suffolk County Council and formulate a plan B. The committee will comprise of Terry Wheeler, Pete Garner, Richard Hobbs, Steve Brown, John Pelling, David Atkins and Rebecca Loader.

Article by M.P.Upton - 23/3/11
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