Campaigners fighting to save libraries attack ‘biased’ study

Doncaster’s elected mayor Peter Davies said early this year he was being forced to close 14 of the town’s 26 libraries as a result of Government funding cuts.

But a protest group called Save Doncaster Libraries was immediately formed to oppose the measures, and in February Mr Davies stepped back from immediate closures.

Community groups were given 12 months to come up with plans to take the libraries on and a consultation was launched which the council said would gauge interest.

Yesterday Save Doncaster Libraries said that consultation had not been wide enough and was designed to ensure that the council received a very low level of response.

The group has now sent a letter of protest to the council detailing 13 points it has concerns about, including the limited area in which questions have been asked.

Lauren Smith, a spokesman for Save Doncaster Libraries, said only households very close to the 14 threatened branches had been sent a questionnaire, which excluded others from having a say.

Ms Smith added: “We don’t have confidence that the people who are carrying out the exercise are doing it properly – the process just seems so biased towards the closure of these libraries.”

“While we understand the council is very pushed in terms of the cuts imposed on it by the Government, we are concerned that it is using that as an excuse to not invest in a meaningful consultation with taxpayers.

“The cost of the current exercise is also coming out the existing library budget, which is small enough as it is, and we feel the cash should be coming from elsewhere in the authority.

“Because of the limited scope of the consultation and the poor methodologies being used we feel that there will be a very poor quality report produced at the end of the process.

“Other areas proposing library cuts have laid out their consultation processes on a website, and made it clear exactly what will happen and when. That hasn’t happened here and it is not acceptable.”

The group said the council had never explained why it had picked certain libraries for closure and said it suspected those selected were in areas where communities were unlikely to take over.

In the letter to the council another member of the group, Lynne Coppendale, raises concerns over a covering letter in which she claims the Mayor seeks to “skew the results” of the process.

She says; “Why does the covering letter from Mayor Davies imply that any non-return of the questionnaire will skew the results such that they will be assumed to mean people do not need or want a library service?”

Mrs Coppendale then quotes the Mayor as saying in the consultation: “If we do not hear from you, we will take the view that you do not require access to a library service in your community.”

Ms Smith said that approach was also “unacceptable” and added that many people valued their local library service but may not have the time or skills to be able to take over from the council to run them.

Yesterday Julie Grant, Doncaster Council assistant director responsible for libraries, said: “We have provided a questionnaire to every household in the 14 areas so they can have their say on the future of their library and of any impact an alternative way of delivering the service will have on them.

“We are encouraging everyone who has received a questionnaire to respond, otherwise we will not know their views.

“Other means such as focus groups will be used to gain views and details of these groups will be announced in the near future.

“The council has no option but to review current service and identify savings, while also improving and changing the way libraries are run.”