Council plan to close public toilets but save libraries

[dutchman]

Coventry City Council has revealed a new £5million cuts plan which will see a range of services reduced or closed across the city.



The authority is set to abandon its ‘City Centre First’ strategy which would have seen it close every one of more than 100 council-run service centres in the city - including libraries and community centres - and replace them with five regional hubs.

Now, the authority hopes a new plan drawn up over the past six months will allow the council to save all 17 libraries - although some will move to new locations. The cuts would also see 35 jobs axed.

The council is making cutbacks as it contends with a £65m grant cut from central government by 2017 - half of what the council received in 2010. That equates to £250 less to spend on every person in the city.

Revised plans include scrapping the city’s mobile library service, saving £85,000 a year, and all libraries outside the city centre would close on Wednesdays. The city centre library will also close an hour earlier on weekdays.

Arena library, in Holbrooks, will move to a new location, saving a whopping £300,000 a year for the council while Willenhall Library will also move to a new location, saving £46,000 a year.

There would also be a £100,000 reduction in the council’s annual spend on books and DVDs - taking the figure to £558,000.

All six public toilets outside the city centre will close and two play centres, in Eagle Street and Edgwick Park, will shut in around June 2016 - leaving parents to find alternative arrangements for 170 children registered at the two sites.

Labour Coun David Kershaw, Coventry City Council’s cabinet member for education, said: “We have done a lot of thinking in the last six months in combination with new officers.

“There’s more imaginative thinking about how we can deliver services differently. We have to make cuts, but I believe there is a way we can make cuts and improve services.”

Coun Kershaw said the council would look at increased use of technology as a way of reducing library budgets and possibly sharing staff with nearby schools.

He added: “My belief is that we will be able to keep all our libraries open. That means some will have to move to nearby locations and they will be run differently.”

Coun Kershaw also said the council was committed to maintaining the city’s three Carnegie libraries in Stoke, Earlsdon and Foleshill but said the authority was not legally bound to use the buildings as libraries.

Asked about the impact of the mobile library closure, he said that the authority had come to an arrangement with Age UK to provide a service for communities where the service was well-used.

He also said the annual reduction in spending on books and DVDs had traditionally been “well above” national guidelines, and that the new figure remained higher than recommended as a minimum.

A public consultation into the changes is set to begin after a council cabinet meeting on November 26 and will run until February 1.

Asked about the decision to close the two remaining council-run play centres in the city, Coun Kershaw said the model was outdated and that nurseries better-prepared youngsters for school life.

He added: “Every effort will be made to contact families and provide alternative nursery provision in that area.

“There is capacity for the children within a reasonable distance.”

Coun Kershaw said the decision to close public toilets had been made because the council did not have a legal obligation to provide the facilities. It will save an estimated £50,000 a year for the council.

Other changes include transferring control of six community centres to local groups and re-allocating a £139,000 annual youth services budget which currently only spends £56,000 a year and benefits nine organisations. That support was already due to expire in March 2016.

[rebbonk]

It strikes me they don't know what to do and they're running around like headless chickens.

I still say that there is plenty of duplication and waste within this organisation that could be tackled and would save front-line services. However, (I would suggest to make political capital) there is the lack of will (or know how) to tackle it.

Now, remind me, just how much did the council pay (waste on) a bunch of consultants a while back to come up with cost savings?

[Melisandre]

All six public toilets outside the city centre will close

I am crossing my legs and wriggling just thinking about this it s hard enough finding one close at hand in side the city.

[dutchman]

Coventry library campaigners hit out at £5m cuts plan

Campaigners have hit out at plans to drastically reduce library services in the city and move others to alternative locations.

Mary Courtney, from the Save Coventry Libraries Campaign, said there were concerns over reduced opening times and a smaller books budget.

She said: “We are deeply concerned that these plans for library cuts are only the first phase.

“More cuts are on the way, with a further £3.8million a year to be severed from 2017/18 through ‘a new approach to delivering council services in neighbourhoods’ according to the council report.

“We have no idea what that these new approaches might be, but fear that if the council chooses to go down the route of volunteer libraries our libraries will die a slow death as has happened in other parts of the country.”

Consultation on the proposals will run from December 7 to February 1.

Nicky Downes, from Save Coventry Libraries, said the campaign also sought to clarify the restrictions over the use of the city’s three Carnegie libraries, built when Andrew Carnegie donated £10,000 to the city to build them in the early 1900s.

She said: “The massive campaign against library closures in this city has kept them open, but we are concerned about the next phase in particular and the Carnegie libraries following Coun Kershaw’s comments in the Telegraph, where he says the council is not ‘legally bound’ to use the three Carnegie libraries in Stoke, Earlsdon and Foleshill, as libraries.”

[rebbonk]

Libraries are a valuable community asset and must not be closed. We need to think of the way forward and how to integrate books with more modern methods. What we mustn't do is simply close libraries because some think they're out of date.

[dutchman]

Future welfare payments, including Universal Credit, can only be claimed via the internet. So if someone doesn't have an internet connection at home, a public library is the only place they can make a claim.

[dutchman]

Deals to move libraries revealed as council cuts begin to take shape


Willenhall Library

Coventry City Council is on the verge of agreeing deals to move two libraries to new locations in the city, the Telegraph can reveal.

Arena Park Library, in Holbrooks, and Willenhall Library, in Remembrance Road, are earmarked to move to new locations as part of the council’s Connecting Communities scheme which aims to shave £1.2million from this year’s budget, rising to £5m the following year.

Council officials hope to be able to confirm the move of Arena Park Library to Holbrooks Community Care Association, on Holbrooks Lane, in the next few months.

Moving the library to the new site, less than one mile away, is predicted to slash a whopping £300,000 off the council’s libraries budget - due to high existing rent levels at Arena Park.

Willenhall Library is also set for a new home with plans set to be agreed to move it to The Hagard Centre, just a few metres away on the same road, in a bid to shave about £46,000 from its annual budget.

Coun David Kershaw, the council’s cabinet member for education, said the decisions came after extensive public consultation.

He said: “We have had something like 30 meetings with staff and communities across the city since before Christmas and they will continue until the end of this month.

“The negotiations to move the Arena Park Library to the Holbrooks Community Care site are entirely driven by having a massively expensive rent.

“Willenhall Library will move to the Hagard Centre and when it moves we will ensure that the new location is fit for purpose.”

Coun Kershaw said the moves would allow things like adult education and child care facilities to be combined with library services at the new locations. He added that this was a model he hoped other libraries would be able to follow in the future as the council contends with central government grant cut of a predicted £130m by 2020 compared to 2010.

He said: “In 2016/17 we will be looking at things more radically and more fundamentally. We’re exploring how we can deliver public services in a partnership model.”

He added: “We’re doing our level best to keep all our libraries open, but that doesn’t mean to say they will always be used exactly as they are now. “I’m not saying they will be used for something totally different, but they might be used alongside other services.”

The final public consultations on library cuts in the city will take place on Sunday, January 24 between 1pm and 2pm at Stoke Library, in Kingsway.

[dutchman]

Coventry council pressing on with £1.2m of cuts to libraries, play centres and public toilets

Plans to shave £1.2million from the council’s budget for libraries, toilets and play centres have barely been altered despite consultation involving thousands of people.

Coventry City Council revealed its ‘Connecting Communities’ strategy in November, a plan which will result in 35 jobs cuts and the closure of the city’s mobile library.

Thousands responded to the plans during an eight-week public consultation which saw 80 meetings take place and more than 12,000 people contacted directly by the council.

But the only change set to be made to the far-reaching strategy is a minor tweak to opening hours at three of the city’s 17 libraries.

Original and unaltered plans include closing all six public toilets outside the city centre and two play centres, in Eagle Street and Edgewick Park - leaving parents to find alternative arrangements for 170 children registered at the two sites.

There will also be a £100,000 reduction in the council’s annual spend on books and DVDs - taking the figure to £558,000.

Arena Park and Willenhall libraries will both move to new buildings, saving an estimated £200,000 a year.

The plans originally included closing all libraries outside the city centre on Wednesdays and Sundays but the council has now agreed to keep the Sunday service at three libraries - Foleshill, Earlsdon and Bell Green.

A commitment to keep all libraries in the city open next year will also be met.

Cutbacks are being made as the council contends with a £65m grant cut from central government by 2017 - half of what it received in 2010.

Coun David Kershaw, the council’s cabinet member for education, said there were few changes to the original plan because no viable alternatives had been suggested.

He said: “People have not come up with any alternative ideas. We have to make the £1.2m savings. Come up with your suggestions please, we’re open minded. If it can be incorporated we will do our level best to make it work.

“One suggestion was that we reduce senior managers in the council but we have reduced them dramatically. We have saved £1.85m between 2011 and September 2015.

“Some people said the opening hours changes didn’t make sense, we looked at it and they were right - so we changed it.”

A further £3.8m of cuts in the same areas will follow in next year’s budget and Coun Kershaw confirmed he could not guarantee no libraries would shut in the future.

He also insisted the only way services could be protected was by a move towards partnership working with voluntary, private and community organisations.

A council ‘transition fund’ worth £525,000 has been set up to help community organisations secure grants of up to £20,000 to take on the delivery of services, and officials say they have received high levels of interest.

Coun Kershaw said: “I have a view that if people buy into this new way of working we can transform the way public services are delivered over the next 10 years.

“My belief is that the citizens of Coventry will rise to the challenge and help us to protect, and in some cases improve, our services.”

The cuts to services are set to be agreed during a council cabinet meeting on February 23.

The "grant from central government" was only cut because the council refused to freeze the level of Poll Tax, it was a choice which the council made.

[rebbonk]

I'm certain the council knew what they were doing by turning that funding down.

I just hope that the electorate show their appreciation come the elections.

[dutchman]

Unions to protest against Coventry City Council budget cuts

The largest union at Coventry City Council have urged councillors to set a ‘no cuts’ budget later this month – when it will stage a protest.

UNISON is instead calling for united opposition to government funding cuts to local councils, saying enough is enough.

The union’s officials say the city needs to be defended from any more cuts to services.

Among cuts proposals are changes to the library service – including closing Allesley Park and Willenhall libraries in their current buildings, play centres at Eagle Street and Edgewick Park, public toilets, and around 1000 more job losses.

UNISON, which represents thousands of council workers in the city, is also calling on councillors to use part of the £80million plus of financial reserves – a figure disputed by the council – to hold off cuts and instead “build a national campaign to win more money for local services”.

The union also urges using low interest-rate prudential borrowing to plug a financial blackhole to avoid cuts, as a “short-term measure”.

A full council meeting of councillors will set the Budget for the 2016/7 financial year (which starts in April) next Tuesday, February 23.

Unions and other protesters will gather for a demonstration outside the Council House in Earl Street, on Coventry city centre, at 1pm, and are calling on the public to attend.

As we reported yesterday, the Budget proposals also include the largest Council Tax rise for years – at 3.9 per cent – meaning Coventry citizens will again be paying more for fewer services.

A total of £500,000 a year will go towards creating the West Midlands Combined Authority under Labour councillors’ Budget plans.

The council is also forecasting income from the government’s New Homes bonus of over £2million by 2018/9 – as a reward for building more homes.

It comes amid controversial plans for building on the Green belt. The Labour council has since 2010 declined to take the money from the New Homes bonus, previously pledging to voters there would be no new homes of Green Belt or green fields.

Labour council leaders say the Council Tax hike is necessary to protect the most vulnerable and raise revenue for adult social care.

UNISON Branch Secretary Sarah Feeney said: “Coventry people can’t take any more cuts. We are urging our Labour council to set a legal no-cuts budget, and to say no more cuts.

“As a council we have millions in reserves that can buy us time to campaign for more money from central government.

“It is not right that ordinary people in Coventry, whether they be part of the council workforce or users of our vital public services pay the price for more austerity.

“We urge councillors to do the right thing and hold off the cuts, whilst building the fight for more resources for our city. This is part of UNISON’s national campaign to win a fair deal for local government.”

Coventry council leaders say one-off spending to stave off cuts for one year is no solution, as savings need to plug the gap between income and expenditure year-on-year.