The Cheshire East Labour-Independent Administration have voted to cut Library opening hours across the borough by introducing shorter working days and one half-day a week. However, they were forced to abandon more significant cuts to hours of operation following significant public backlash during the recent consultation.
Conservative Cllr Stewart Gardiner (Knutsford), highlighted the wide range of social, DWP and Council access services that are also delivered at Library venues that will be compromised by the shorter working days stating:
“One line from one individual jumped out from the page at me – ‘I go to the library because I am lonely’.
That is why we should not be reducing the opening hours of our libraries and we should be doing all we can to ensure that the assets are sweated and that the benefits of that, where we can do that in the big libraries, are shared amongst us.”
Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury) raised a question (read out by Cllr Liz Wardlaw) asking;
”Where in this proposal or in the financial appraisal of these cuts have the needs of other Council service areas been considered? There appears to be a lack of ‘joined up thinking’ when Adult Social Care and other Corporate Services have also built in MTFS (Budget) savings for this year that are dependent on being able to use Library buildings and services for their clients”
Officers were unable to offer any detailed response at this time.
Whilst members of the Environment & Communities Committee acknowledged the financial difficulties being experienced by CEC, only very limited opportunities to use the facilities for additional income-generation had been explored.
Despite these concerns, all the Labour and Independent Councillors on the Committee voted in favour of the cuts. (Conservatives voted against).
