Proposed Peterborough library cuts will face consultation – but £2.1m saving ‘has to be met from somewhere’

Peterborough City Council is proposing to make just under £22 million in savings in its latest draft budget in order to balance its books.

Around £2.1 million of it is expected to be made through the council’s leisure, heritage and library services.

In the initial draft budget, an amount of savings was given to each proposed service change. For example, the council initially proposed closing seven out of 10 libraries in Peterborough, which it estimated would save £314,000 a year.

However, the council’s executive director of place and economy, Adrian Chapman, told a joint meeting of the scrutiny committees on January 29 that the authority is now taking a different approach following the latest budget consultation.

He said: “We are no longer making any assumptions about levels of savings against these services but would rather lift ourselves up and look differently at how those services need to be delivered based on proper evidence and a proper needs assessment.

“The reality is that there is that £2.1 million figure that has to be met from somewhere. We’ve left it allocated for this discussion against the broad leisure, heritage and library services themes and we’ll endeavour to meet it through that route.

“A lot of that can be done through no service changes whatsoever. Simply by the way services are managed and in which organisation. There are some very straightforward ways of securing significant benefit from business rates and VAT on income.

“A significant amount of that total will be achieved without any form of change. The rest, as we’ve said, we’re not making any assumptions. We need to do the work.

“I own this number [£2.1 million] and if I can’t deliver the numbers that are set out in this budget then I need to come back and find alternative ways of doing it, without it adversely affecting the quality and provision that we’ve got in the city currently.”

In the latest draft budget, the council changed its proposal to close seven out of 10 libraries, and instead will draft a full needs assessment prior to making detailed recommendations.

At the joint meeting of scrutiny committees on January 29, Councillor Mark Ormston asked when residents can expect a consultation on library service cuts.

Mr Chapman responded: “In order to consult, we need to draft a needs assessment which needs to then inform the consultation.

“That needs assessment is being drafted as we speak, not to assume that the proposal will be approved, but in order to save time if it is approved. Then we would expect to go out to consultation in early spring.

“We’re working really closely with DCMS, the department responsible for libraries, and have engaged very proactively initially with the Friends of Woodston Library and fully intend to engage with all the other friends groups across the city.”

The library consultation is expected to run over the summer.

Mr Chapman added: “I really urge members to think about a library service rather than library buildings. One of the bits of confusion we’ve tripped up on recently is assuming a building equals a library and a library equals a building.

“There are lots of different ways of thinking about library services.”

The council made a number of other changes to its leisure, heritage and library service proposals in its latest draft budget, including reversing the decision to mothball the Lido to save £400,000 a year. Instead, the authority is proposing to keep the Lido open and achieve this by introducing a range of measures that create a more efficient operating model.

Cafes located in the Lido, Flag Fen, Vivacity Premier Fitness, and the Museum and Art Gallery were also proposed to be closed down to save £100,000 a year. However, the council says it will instead work with the operator of these facilities to seek to achieve at least a break-even cafe offer so they can remain open.

There were also proposals to reduce the opening hours of the Museum and Art Gallery from the current six days per week to three days per week. But this has not been finalised and the council is exploring other ways to make savings without having to reduce opening hours.

The proposed budget will next be discussed at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, February 11.