Slough Council agrees to launch library consultation

Residents will be given a chance to express their views via a 12-week consultation from October 28 as the council eyes to save about £400,000 in the service.

According to a report, Slough Borough Council is eyeing up five options, including closing the Langley and Cippenham libraries, as the current service is “not affordable”.

READ MORE: Two Slough libraries could be axed in bid to ease financial pressures

Other options include:

• Keeping all the library buildings open but slashing opening hours and some of their space to allow other users to rent that area
• Reducing the money available to spend on buying publications (both hard copy and eResources)
• Keeping all the main library buildings open but reducing the opening and staffed hours at Langley and Cippenham and reducing the staffed hours at The Curve and Britwell libraries
• Moving all library services out of the current main library buildings and re-locating services to be delivered from a range of other locations across the borough

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Monday, October 18, Richard West, executive director for customers and communities, said the consultation is “not pre-determined” and is to see if the libraries are used efficiently and to see if other services can be offered from the buildings.

Feedback from residents will also help identify what times the libraries are most needed to understand what hours the council can reduce if it chooses to go down that route.

Cippenham Library could close in a proposed series of cuts

It also seeks to see if the amount of money spent on new eResources and hard copy books is in line with other councils.

Council leader James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) said this was making sure the libraries were “doing their job” and looking at the future of the service as the use of digital books and online resources increased.

Langley Kedermister Cllr Chandra Muvvala (Con) said it would be “disastrous” if the libraries were to close. He suggested some changes to the consultation such as making vital questions mandatory for residents to answer.

Council Leader james Swindlehurst - Pictures: Mike Swift.

Cllr Swindlehurst said: “We want to make sure we’ve got them [the libraries] at the right times, doing the right things, and we’ve got a chance to move the service moving forward because it is no longer just a book borrowing service anymore.

“It is something far more diverse, interesting, and complicated than that and we need to reflect that for the future because if we continue to deliver a book borrowing service, it will become more and more out of date and it will see peoples’ usage drop off by the backdoor almost.

“We don’t enter this with some ideological desire to close the buildings. What we’re trying to do though is make sure we can run this service in an environment where we have to reduce the overall costs faced by the council and some of those standalone facilities do need something to change in order to make them viable.”

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He also said this is to “inform” next year’s budget as well as the medium-term financial strategy, so councillors are “confident” the library service is fully sustainable.

The council leader added this year’s budget is “broadly balanced” following the section 114 notice in July, which froze all non-essential spending.

When the consultation launches, there will be an online survey, drop-in sessions at libraries, and online sessions for residents to share their views.

Residents were urged repeatedly to give their views via the consultation. Cllr Swindlehurst believed the consultation will get responses as the libraries are an “emotive” service.

The consultation, which is not yet live, can be found here: https://www.slough.gov.uk/libraryconsultation.