County Council retreats - library saved?
The BBC is reporting that Oxfordshire County Council has withdrawn its plans for wholesale library closures, and is instead simply looking at cutting staffing costs. Charlbury Library was one of those earmarked for closure.
It says: "[Council leader Keith] Mitchell insisted that the word closure had only ever been used by the media and that the council had always been looking at ways to keep the libraries open. But he added that the original list of libraries set to lose their funding had gone. 'We've torn up that list, we've moved on, things have changed,' he said."
He continues: "The real cost in many libraries, the large cost is the staffing and that's where we will have to have negotiations and discussions."
The Oxford Mail has a similar report. It quotes Mr Mitchell as saying: "We are starting with a blank piece of paper. We are looking at all options. No decisions have been taken. Officers are working hard to rethink the process." Asked if every library could be saved, he replied: "It would be wonderful if that could be achieved", but reiterated that volunteer help may be needed.
Richard Fairhurst · Thu 24 Mar 2011, 14:01 · Link