Wirral Council cabinet face library closure questions

Mar 25 2009 Birkenhead News

WIRRAL Council’s ruling cabinet members will be questioned by the Local Government Ombudsman this week over the closure of 11 libraries.

All 10 cabinet members were called for interview, along with the leader and deputy of the council's Conservative group.

The closures – part of the controversial Strategic Asset Review (SAR) – saw tens of thousands of people signing petitions in opposition to the plans.

And campaigns have sprung up across the borough.

Wirral West Labour MP Stephen Hesford, along with Wirral’s South’s Ben Chapman, have been vociferous in their opposition to the SAR.

They were among those urging the Ombudsman to intervene and halt the closures.

This week, leader of the borough’s Tory group, Jeff Green said he hoped the Ombudsman would also speak to dissident Lib-Dems who opposed the closures.

The Tories have repeatedly said they would re-open any of the facilities shut as a result of the SAR if they gain power at next year’s local elections.

Cllr Green said the Ombudsman wrote to him saying cabinet members and group leaders would be interviewed as part of the inquiry into the SAR.

Cllr Green said: “I understand the Ombudsman will be asking for details on how the council decided which libraries should be closed and would be seeking copies of the council’s policies and procedures.

“People were being excluded all the way along and were told what the council was doing rather than being consulted.”

A spokeswoman for the Local Government Ombudsman’s office declined to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Last week, dates for the closures were revealed.

The doors to the last batch of condemned libraries will shut on July 4 as the authority structures the closures over a period of four months.

At the head of the queue for the axe are Higher Bebington, New Ferry, Ridgeway and Wallasey Village libraries.

All have been given an official notice of closure with some coming into effect on April 4.

Wirral Council’s leaders said the closure plans will save the authority more than £3m and will allow them to create a number of more modern mixed-used centres.