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Cuts to Peterborough library hours to take effect despite opposition
Bretton Library where users staged a fight to ease the impact of cuts to opening hours. Picture: Paul Franks/Peterborough ET
CONTROVERSIAL changes to the opening hours of Peterborough libraries will be enforced tomorrow (1 June) as part of council budget cuts.
The changes in hours will affect Hampton, Orton, Woodston, Bretton, Werrington, Dogsthorpe, Eye, Thorney and Stanground libraries and come amid a clamour of protests from hundreds of residents.
The alterations to the opening hours have been made by Peterborough City Council as an attempt to cut spending by £171,000, with most of the changes seeing libraries opening later and closing earlier.
Among the most significant changes are at Dogsthorpe library, which will now be closed on Mondays, while Woodston Library will be shut on Tuesdays.
The controversial changes faced strong opposition in some parts of the city when they were announced.
The council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget for 2011/12, agreed by full council in February, would have seen Bretton, Werrington and Orton libraries’ open for 29 hours each a week in a bid to save £223,000 – but down from 44.5 hours each per week.
However, after two petitions from residents were handed into the council calling for the libraries to open longer, it was agreed by councillors that the libraries should be open for 37 hours instead, after an extra £52,000 was found to add to the library budget.
Kevin Tighe, chief executive of Vivacity, which runs Peterborough’s libraries, said: “We have been working closely with the council to help it meet its budget challenges. Our aim is to provide the very best library services for the people of Peterborough.
“We are delighted that by working together with the council we have been able to lessen the impact the budget challenge has had on our libraries.”
Residents in Yaxley are currently fighting Huntingdonshire District Council to slash opening hours in the village’s library by four hours, and nearly 2,000 people signed a petition against the cuts last year.
Central Library in Broadway, Peterborough, will not be affected by a change in opening hours.
The mobile library’s timetable will also change from tomorrow, with some locations now being visited on alternate weeks, rather than every week.
For a full list of changes to the opening hours, and for more information about when city libraries will be open and the services they offer, visit www.peterborough.gov.uk or call into your local library.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Comments
There are 14 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
rogerandrew
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 02:17 PMtypical,the city library has NO cutback in opening hours, and the outlying library's get opening hour cuts...always the same,,city first in the pecking order,,villages and other out of town areas get little money or services, although we pay huge amounts of council tax,,rip off PCC
Dalek Sec
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 07:50 AMSo basically this'll save the same amount of money the council gave TK Maxx as a bribe to come to the city! This is disgusting and shows how dumb the leadership is at our council - they can afford to give a private business with a multi-million pound turn-over money, but they can't afford to keep libraries open for local residents - their priorities are seriously messed up. I won't go into TK Maxx until they pay us our money back to keep these libraries open the hours they should be open. TK Maxx stole our libraries!
Azamat
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 06:48 AMChiefy council have to prvide libray free by law. I read about it. If poeple not happy they should go to charity shop and by book. Is nice. Very Cheap.
badwolf
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 10:42 PM@8, yes some of us do use both the DVD's and CD's, but as for charging for books, possibly a good idea
henry
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 08:49 PMCentral Library in Broadway, Peterborough, will not be affected by a change in opening hours. Well isn't that nice, so the drunks and down and out will still be able to close thier eyes and have a rest!
J J Carter
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 07:14 PMThat £171,000 is urgently needed to fund a few "health tourists" treatment for beri-beri and dengue fever!
Chiefy
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 04:49 PMPerhaps a small charge per book could be introduced. At least the revenue would help out the finances of PCC. Do the libraries really need to have CD's and DVD's ? The majority of them are outdated - keeping to books would inevitably improve the services.
James_Werrington
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 03:18 PMYet more decisions with no information how and why they were made. Has every effort been made to cut heating and lighting costs first? If most people using the library don't work then this might be a "good" cut, but if everyone wants to use the library in the evening and weekends then that's different. Where's the stats showing who's using the library and at what times? Core library services are less and less relevant in the modern age, but community facilities are needed. Classes might already be provided by local halls and this should be taken into account.
Lads Excellent in Training
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 01:55 PMCut libraries to save money then spend it paying TK Maxx to come to the city. The chavivication of Peterborough is almost complete.
Kevin
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 01:21 PMMeanwhile highly paid officers and members totally ignore the recommendation of a council scrutiny committee to stop the Citizen Power project costing £125 000 this year. A quick search on the web will show where the council's priority is when it comes to spending money. I doubt many would agree that Citizen Power is more important to residents than their local library, but who knows.
Dalek Sec
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 10:59 AMAs usual the council fails to listen to residents - no wonder people are losing faith in our politicians - they just can't be bothered to listen to the will of the people who employ them - that goes for Vivacity too!
The Admiral
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 10:37 AMIt seems a small sum saved from alot of change. The public lose but also the staff lose hours therefore salary.
Braneloc
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 10:33 AMThey already cut most of the books, who cares about the hours :(
Peterborough Monitor
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 10:05 AMOne wonders if the cash savings could not of been found from the top Executives at the Council, rather than removing something that edukates.
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