Wirral library closures suspended after Culture Secretary intervenes

Apr 3 2009 By Lorna Hughes

WIRRAL Council's library closure programme has been suspended after the government's Secretary of State for Culture called in the decision for a public inquiry.

The decision means Higher Bebington, New Ferry, Ridgeway and Wallasey Village Libraries, all of which were due to close on Saturday, will remain open for now.

In total, eleven libraries across Wirral were due for closure between April 4 and July.

The inquiry will test whether the council's controversial Strategic Asset Review (SAR) is consistent with its statutory duty to provide all residents with a comprehensive public library service.

Wirral Council leader Steve Foulkes told the News he was confident the inquiry would support the authority's plans to close the libraries - which, he said, would create a "comprehensive and efficient library service."

He said: ‘I have spoken to the minister today and welcome the inquiry announced today by the Secretary of State.

"We will be pointing out to the inquiry that even following the necessary closure programme, 99% of people on Wirral will still be within two miles of a library.

"We share the MLA's (Museums, Libraries and Archives Service) vision of modern libraries that are lively information hubs that not only provide books but a range of other services including the provision of meeting spaces for local communities and advice and access to the full range of council services.

"I believe this is exactly what the council is committed to delivering for the people of Wirral.

"In view of the growing public debate on the future of the library service not just on Wirral but across the country it can only be a good thing that Wirral is in the vanguard of plans to change and improve the service and that our experience can be used to inform future changes nationally.

"In the meantime the closure programme will be temporarily suspended until the results of the inquiry are known."

Liscard councillor Leah Fraser called for cabinet members to resign and said the council's consultation on the plans had been "a complete sham".

She said: "At last, somebody has seen sense and called a halt to these cuts. The massive public opposition to the SAR has outweighed the arguments put forward by the Labour and Liberal Democrat administration.

"The Secretary of State, by using the powers available to him in the 1964 Public Museums and Libraries Act, has shown that he has as little faith in this Council as the rest of us.

"I am absolutely delighted that there will now be a full and independent proper local inquiry into these cuts, proving, if proof were needed, that the Council’s own co-called ‘consultation’ was a complete sham and utterly worthless.

"We now await details of the inquiry In the meantime, I pay tribute to the staff of the libraries who have, throughout this whole sorry episode remained professional in the most difficult and distressing of circumstances.

"The administration has now lost all credibility and must resign. It is time for a change in the way this council operates."

The inquiry will be the first of its kind in 19 years.

Wirral South MP Ben Chapman said: “This is, without doubt, a positive step."

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