A councillor says Kirklees Council has to win back the trust of volunteers who run eight community libraries.

The council said back in February it wanted to withdraw staff and hand over the running of eight smaller libraries to volunteers in a bid to save almost £1 million.

The volunteers at Honley, Meltham, Marsden, Skelmanthorpe, Denby Dale, Shepley and Mirfield libraries told the council in no uncertain terms that creating ‘community-managed libraries’ was a non-starter.

That has now forced a U-turn by the new Labour-run administration and all eight will remain part of the council’s 24-strong library network.

The council will now consult more widely on the future operation of its libraries and still needs to save £940,000 in the 2025-26 financial year.

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s Cabinet, Kirkburton Tory councillor John Taylor welcomed the council’s about-turn and urged the Labour administration to consult more widely – particularly with ward councillors – and not make the same mistakes again.

He said that volunteers at the eight libraries were feeling “bruised and unfairly treated.” He said they had been deliberately “targeted” and “had their legs cut from under them.”

He added: “We had libraries being cut adrift without any consideration. The feedback from the volunteers was that they were thinking about stopping being volunteers.

“That was the case in Shepley where a group of volunteers who help at Cliffe House also thought about stopping as they thought if the library goes then no doubt Cliffe House will go the same way.

“We have damaged the trust with our volunteers,” he said. “Trust is easy to damage but difficult to rebuild and we need to start that rebuilding now.”

 

Honley Library. Image by: Sean Doyle

 

Volunteers and ‘Friends of’ groups told the council they didn’t think they had the skillset or the desire to take on the management of libraries, dealing with the likes of safeguarding of vulnerable people and GDPR.

The Cabinet agreed a consultation process in the autumn to look at targeted reductions in paid staffing levels across all 24 libraries to meet the savings required for the 2025-26 budget. The outcome of the consultation will return to Cabinet for final approval in 2025.

Clr Amanda Pinnock, Cabinet member for education and communities, said: “We have a brilliant library service that goes above and beyond to support our communities in Kirklees.

“I want to thank everyone who has already engaged with us about the future of our libraries. Whilst we have taken into consideration feedback from community stakeholders on our original proposals, we still have difficult decisions to make due to the tough financial circumstances that all councils are facing.

“It’s clear that communities and local organisations want to retain a level of council support for their library and our plans will make sure that happens.

“We will continue to engage with residents, local groups and volunteers and I hope people will take part in our upcoming consultation in the autumn.”

New council leader Carole Pattison admitted that “better consultation could have happened” but she said the council had “certainly listened.”

 

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