Issue - meetings

Report of the Strategic Director – People

The Chair reported that 172 petition forms, containing 262 names, had been submitted “calling upon Sefton Council to make sure that Churchtown Library stays open following the review of the library service.  Churchtown Library is an efficient, friendly library and is a vital part of our community.” In accordance with the Council and Committee Procedure Rules, Councillor Ashton made a statement on behalf of the petitioners.

Further to Minute No. 104 of the meeting held on 16 February 2012, the Cabinet then considered the report of the Strategic Director – Place, which provided an update on the Library Service Review, including the public engagement findings and options for consideration emerging from the review.  At this stage the report sought approval to consult communities, partners, key stakeholders and employees, as appropriate, on the options and to report back the outcome of the consultations prior to any consideration by Council.

The report contained the following annexes:

Annex A          “Comprehensive and efficient” and details of the Wirral Inquiry

Annex B          Library engagement questionnaires

Annex C         Summary of public engagement findings

Annex D         Summary table of costs and usage of libraries

Annex E          Sample of comparator data

Annex F          Maps of Sefton’s population

Annex G         Summary table of socio-economic data

Annex H          Libraries ranked on key indicators

Annex I            List of background documents available to view on-line

Annex J          Options considered but not recommended at this stage

The Strategic Director – Place indicated that the report provided an extensive summary of the work undertaken during the review of the library service and further details of the extensive background information were available on the Council’s website. The report sought approval to commence public consultations on the preferred option at this stage and the Public Engagement and Consultation Panel would be requested to approve the public consultation process at its next meeting.

Councillor P. Dowd referred to the challenge which the Council had in achieving £43.7 million of savings over the next two financial years and indicated that all service areas had to be examined for potential financial savings, prior to a balanced budget for 2013/14 been approved by the Council on 28 February 2013. He indicated that it was originally intended that the details of the review of the library service would be included in the report on potential savings options which had been submitted to the last Cabinet meeting but he had requested that a separate stand alone report on the review be submitted to this meeting to ensure that the details were more transparent.

Members of the Cabinet raised questions on the following issues referred to in the report and Officers responded to the issues as referred to below:-