Plea made for extra time to save Walsall libraries

The extra time would give those branches affected time to come up with a sustainable plan to stay open.

Scrutiny bosses fear that the controversial plan to shut nine of the borough's libraries in order to save £1.8 million may prove more expensive in the long term by piling pressure on the social care budget.

This week, councillors on the council's health and social care scrutiny board met to discuss the matter.

Chairman Councillor Marco Longhi, who represents Pelsall, asked for the cabinet - which has promised to look again at the closure of Pelsall Library in June - to give it and other libraries on the hit-list time to come up with a 'credible' voluntary-based model.

He warned against making 'a quick saving today' on libraries which could cost social care heavily in the future.

The latest appeal came after Walsall Council agreed to look again at proposals to close Pelsall Library, but not until June. Campaigners argue that it is the second most popular in the borough.

At this week's meeting, councillors Mike Bird and Christopher Towe also made the case for threatened Pheasey Library, six miles from Walsall centre, which would leave a high number of residents lonely and cut off.

Councillor Bird said: "We don't want to be in danger of having a budget save on leisure, adding pressure to social care. We could end up with a budget that doesn't balance anymore."

The committee formally requested that the cabinet 'revisit' their decision on library closures and allow a full year's extension to those branches which present a voluntary-based model more time, subject to a draft submission being submitted before the June deadline.

The resolution also asked cabinet to look into libraries sharing premises, rather than closing altogether, and to investigate the cost of decommissioning libraries – with the knock-on effect it may have on all areas of the budget, but particularly social care, two or three years down the line.

Councillor Longi said co-location, or sharing space, was something that the public sector up and down the country were turning to.

"It's something we should be looking at, too," he said, citing Pelsall Library as a perfect candidate as it was council-owned and could not be sold.

Councillor Diane Coughlan, cabinet portfolio holder for social care, said community associations provided, for a nominal fee, a raft of social activities from knitting to tea dances to yoga, to help people feel more socially included.

"We can't afford 'free' any more," she said.

Compared to paying for services like adult care, libraries were 'niceties' that came further down the priority list.

"We have to find this money, and we have to be realistic," she added.

The libraries budget has been cut from £4.3m a year to £2.5m.

Chris Holliday, head of the library service, said the way people used libraries had changed from being places where lenders took out four or five books or records a week, and used the reference section, to becoming 'meeting places'.

Although people still borrow books, increasingly libraries are used as social hubs. A decision on the resolution will be made by the council's cabinet.