County Lib Dems oppose library cuts

Library books

 

Cllr John Goddard, the Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet with responsibility for libraries, has set out the Liberal Democrat Group’s concerns about the proposals which could lead to 20 libraries being closed in the county. He said:

“Who cares about public libraries? I am not sure that the ruling Conservative clique in the County Council do.

“A library in 2010 is not a silent zone dedicated to book borrowing. It has become a social hub of the local community. It is where people of all sorts go for their stimulus to read, to view and to learn. It is where interests are developed, access to wider horizons is offered and, not to overstate the case, life made more worthwhile.

“The present proposals look as though they have been dreamt up in some bean-counting establishment where Charles Dickens’ Mr Gradgrind rules the roost. The cost of cutting library facilities is not to be measured by a bottom line: it will damage the society that lives by more than cash alone.

“For success a library needs easy access – not too costly to the user in terms of cash or time and not so rarely open as to be inconvenient. There has to be skilled management of the hardware: this could well be part time. There has to be properly maintained premises: this could well be shared with other community organisations including schools, children’s centres and youth clubs, community centres and health centres. For each community the best answer will be locally determined after full public involvement. This requires, immediately, open and full consultation, locally-based.

“At present the County Council plans to set a budget in February and to start consultation on the library closures in March. This will guarantee that the key decisions have been taken before consultation. Does this sound familiar to County Council watchers? Come on, County Hall! Show that in your book the big society involves listening, learning and local decision-making!”

Library usage figures for Bury Knowle Library

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Supporters of Bury Knowle Library will be heartened by these 2009-2010 usage figures!

Bury Knowle Library – 153,350 visits – 136,804 items issued

Old Marston Library – 7,000 visits – 20,541 items issued

Botley Library  – 89,750 visits – 78,825 items issued

Blackbird Leys – 21,950 visits – 29,206 items issued

Temple Cowley Library  –  196,000 visits – 217,458 items issued

Oxford Central Library – 582,900 visits – 676,417 items issued

The top twelve libraries for visit figures in Oxfordshire 2009-2010 were as follows:

  1. Oxford Central
  2. Banbury
  3. Abingdon
  4. Witney
  5. Temple Cowley
  6. Wantage
  7. Henley
  8. Headington
  9. Didcot
  10. Bicester
  11. Summertown
  12. Kidlington

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bury Knowle Library

You will have heard the news that Bury Knowle Library is one of the 20 libraries (out of a total of 43) highlighted by the County Council for discontinuation of funding. Details are still sketchy about what exactly it is that the County means by this – would it for example include lease of properties, or replacement stock as well as staffing? We don’t yet know. What we do know is that Bury Knowle House belongs to the City Council, not the County Council, and the County pays the lease to the City. Our portfolio holder is in contact with the relevant senior manager at the City to ascertain whether the City would accept a “peppercorn rent” from any group of volunteers who would like to take over the running of the Library – we haven’t had a response so far

This is part of the County’s press release from 26 November:

Please note these are proposals not decisions

Big Society proposals for the future of Oxfordshire’s libraries

Oxfordshire County Council is asking local communities to come up with innovative ideas to run their local libraries as it proposes to cease funding 20 of the 43 facilities that currently operate in the county, with possible further changes to service levels in future years.

Following the Government’s Spending Review and cuts in funding to local authorities, Oxfordshire County Council currently calculates that it will have to save around £155m up to 2015. These savings will need to be made across all of its services and the library service is one of the areas that will have to contribute to making that saving. The council is already on target to make £35m of savings in 2010/11 with a pay freeze and driving down the costs of contracts with suppliers contributing to this.

What is the vision for the future of libraries?

Proposals have been formulated around a clear vision of providing library hubs centred on key areas of population in Oxfordshire with a quality support network of mobile library services and an extension of the library loan service to include e-books and e-audio downloads, so people can get the books they want direct to their home PCs. Residents will continue to be able to go online and order books from an online catalogue. The books can be delivered either to the nearest library hub or to the village/town by the mobile library service for users to collect.

In formulating proposals for a new way forward there has been a strong emphasis on the comparative quality of the public transport links that enable local communities to reach libraries in individual localities and geographical spread. Usage figures have also been considered.

Are these the final proposals?

Details could yet change when more information becomes available on Local Government Settlement Day – the day when all UK councils learn in detail what their grant funding from central Government will be in future years. Oxfordshire County Council receives 65 per cent of its funding from central Government.

Cash to help innovative ideas

In line with the Government’s Big Society agenda, Oxfordshire County Council is to set up a pot of money to which local communities can bid for funds to help them take responsibility for any library that the council is seeking to end funding.

Which libraries will see funding cease?

A total of 82 per cent of library visits take place to the 23 libraries that are currently proposed for continued funding by the county council.

Oxford and Banbury have excellent transport links with a high quality bus service meaning that libraries are very easy to reach. Oxford Central Library is accessible to everyone in the city and it is proposed that opening hours should be extended to include Sundays. Cowley Library is also proposed to remain as part of the county council’s network of libraries.

Summertown, Headington, Littlemore, Old Marston and Blackbird Leys in Oxford would see funding discontinued as would Neithrop in Banbury.

Adderbury, Bampton, Benson, Berinsfield, Botley, Charlbury, Chinnor, Deddington, Grove, Kennington, North Leigh, Sonning Common, Stonesfield and Woodcote would also see funding cease with opportunities for the community to take over their running.

When will funding cease?

Funding will be phased out during the 2011/12 financial year although there is no exact timetable at the moment. Any further funding changes will be announced in future financial years.

Our latest information from County is that:

information is being worked out for each library – and will be available the week commencing 13th December. Each area will need a different solution, even if the community wants to take it over – because some buildings are leased, some are owned by the County etc etc. So it is taking some time to get the information together to help communities decide what they would like to do. The consultation is likely to start in March 2011

Unofficially a figure of £200K has been mentioned as a possible sum of money for which volunteer groups can bid to maintain their libraries, but this has not yet been confirmed. As soon as we have more details we will let you know, and we shall be meeting Headington Action shortly to discuss a local response

Consultation event on Tuesday

The Planning Consultation Events are for Planning Policy Officers from the City Council to hear your views about almost 100 sites that have been identified for potential development for uses such as housing, shops, student accommodation and offices over the next 15 years and to suggest other sites. They are also looking at new planning policies for housing and student accommodation. Future planning applications will ultimately be judged against these new policies.

The consultation event for the North East is happening on Tuesday

Headington Baptist Church, 78 Old High Street
Tuesday 30 November   4.30pm-7.30pm

The map of the areas put forward for development (and for what purpose), and information on how you can send in your comments, can be found here.  We would urge people to go and register your views. Areas in our ward include the JR Hospital site, Ruskin fields, Old High Street car park, Dorset House (corner of London Road/Latimer Road) the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Headington School and Headington Prep School

The types of things Planning Officers would be interested to hear about on the site maps are:

  • Which sites do you think are suitable for development and for what uses?
  • Which sites do you think are not suitable for development, and why?
  • Do you have ideas for how any of the sites could be best developed, such as where the best access would be from or which features might need to be protected?
  • Are there any other sites that we haven’t identified that you think are suitable for development?

The types of things they would be interested to hear about on the housing issues are:

  • How can planning policies best ensure that new housing developments address the affordability crisis in Oxford?
  • Where should student accommodation be located, and how should it be designed?
  • Should we be doing more to manage the number of shared houses (or ‘houses in multiple occupation’)?
  • How should we expect developers to build sustainable homes?
  • How could planning policy better encourage quality design in homes, so that the impact of development on the wider area is positive?

Lobbying at national level

Lib Dem reps on the LGA Economy and Transport Board are lobbying for the following:

  1. Calling for local authorities to have the right to require utility companies to deposit bonds with them so local councils can reinstate substandard road repairs after utility works instead of councils having to inspect each one and negotiate individually with the utility company. This puts the onus on the utility companies to do their repairs properly before faults and problems have to be rectified.
  2. Call on Government to help fund (once off) Smartcards on all buses to provide more accurate data on journey numbers, times and locations. This should reduce bus company reimbursements for concessionary fares. Some smaller bus companies (rural and tendered services in many urban areas) cannot afford the capital cost.
  3. Foreign Lorry mileage charges: they currently pay no road tax and little fuel duty as most fill up in mainland Europe where diesel is cheaper. Yet they cause a lot of damage to our road surfaces.  A new charge (measured on entry and exit from UK) will be welcomed by UK car drivers, road haulage companies and bus companies.

The Local Government Association has been charged with pursuing these points with the government as a result of Lib Dem pressure 


Health walks starting in Bury Knowle Park!

The first set of health walks set up by City Council officers will take place as follows:
Sundays in Blackbird Leys, meeting at the Leisure Centre for a 2pm start, commencing Sunday 21st November 2010
Wednesdays in Florence Park, meeting at the tennis courts for a 10am start, commencing Wednesday 24th November 2010 (wheelchair accessible)
Fridays in Bury Knowle Park, meeting at the library for a 10am start, commencing Friday 26th November 2010 (wheelchair accessible)
 
Walks are led by health walk leaders and are taken at a pace and distance suitable for everyone.
All walkers are encouraged to wear suitable shoes to walk in and to arrive on time as the walks leave promptly.
Walks will not go ahead if there is heavy rainfall, snow or ice! 
There are 9 enthusiastic volunteers who have received health walk training to lead the walks in the city, however we are always on the look out for more people to join them.  

More information is available on the website

Public lecture at the NOC

We are all invited to the Joint Ventures lecture on Physiotherapy research – learning from patients and this is going to be about what can be gained from interviewing patients about back pain, joint replacement and neuro-rehabilitation

Date: 23 November

Time: 6 pm (followed by refreshments at 7 pm)

Place: Lecture Theatre, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre

Booking details: please book by 19 November by emailing Fiona Parker on

fiona.parker@ndorms.ox.ac.uk

Student numbers 2009-10 for Oxford Brookes University

There are often misunderstandings about student numbers in our area, so I am posting up the latest Oxford Brookes University submission to Oxford City Council for student numbers in 2009-10.  These are figures produced for HESA, and HESA’s definition of a full-time student is one who studies for a minimum of 24 weeks.

Total full-time numbers: 13,086 (including franchises taught elsewhere, Swindon Campus and students out on placement or sandwich years)

Total no. students studying on campuses in and around Oxford, including Wheatley and Harcourt Hill, Botley: 12,077

On 1 November 2009 there were 12,232 students studying full-time and this figure includes those on short courses at these main campuses. The figures provided to the Council re accommodation are for students living in the community including all students who are full-time at that point;  this is why Brookes numbers are higher than the HESA stats. A breakdown of this accommodation data  revealed:

Hall places provided by the University: 3390 (actual occupancy 3269)

Halls places provided in conjunction with A2 Dominion at Sinnet Court and Windmill Road:  249 (actual occupancy 247)

Analysis of postcodes showed that of the remaining full-time students, 3309 were living away from home in Oxford City. Of these 416 were in University-managed houses or headlease properties, which are maintained at a higher standard than many other private rented properties

Note Halls places can be allocated to short-term students, e.g. those on English language courses, provided they are full-time. However these places are then re-allocated to other short-term students to achieve optimum occupancy throughout the academic year. So it’s not true to assume that a short-term student pushes a full-year student into private rented accommodation

Any queries to Ruth and David please

No mince pies: entertainment by Brookes for elderly neighbours

Once again this year, Oxford Brookes Students’ Union is holding its popular

NO MINCE PIES! event

on Friday 26 November from 2.30-4.30 pm in The Venue, Helena Kennedy Student Centre, Headington Hill

There will be bingo, student entertainment, and refreshments. If you and/or an elderly friend or relative living near Brookes would like to attend this event, please reserve places by contacting

Andrea Siret tel. 01865 484451   email: asiret@brookes.ac.uk