Updates on the campaign to save Swindon's Libraries 4

Tim Aker Campaign

A few weeks ago we reported on the campaign to save Swindon ’s small community libraries from closure. Since knowing about the ‘alphabet soup’ quangocracy that governs library policy, and can advise on whether to keep certain libraries open or not, we’ve got more involved in this grassroots effort to maintain this important, front line service.

As has been noted, not just by councillors but also by library expert Tim Coates, there are plenty of solutions available to keep Swindon ’s libraries open, whether managing overheads better or finding the money from cuts in councillor allowances.

Yet Swindon council and the Museums, Libraries and Archives council (MLA) have doggedly criticised and fought against pleas to keep the libraries open.

As an example of how steadfast the MLA have been, a report from Tim Coates into Swindon’s Libraries was described by the MLA to Swindon Council as being "poor", but faced with a formal complaint for making that criticism without any foundation, they have been forced to withdraw and issue a public apology. A panel of their own board members found the analysis made by MLA researchers to be 'below the standard expected' and the behaviour of the MLA's executive officers to be 'inappropriate' . The complaint panel underlined the comment that 'Mr Coates view (of Swindon libraries) may well be right'

The complaint, which was made to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport was upheld yesterday. From the Bookseller.com:

“The inquiry also found that it was "not in accordance with accepted standards" for the MLA to have agreed to offer an analysis of Coates' own report into Swindon libraries without informing Coates and giving him the opportunity to comment.”

In addition to this we have put in our own complaint with the MLA. Some months ago I requested all correspondence from the MLA referring to Swindon council and Swindon taxpayers, in the hope that we could get a comprehensive picture of the debate.

When I had received the information, I cross-referenced my findings with the correspondence Tim Coates had obtained and has access to. In matching them up, we have found over 30 documents that have been withheld from us. The report that the MLA issued yesterday shows that there even more documents, that have been omitted, than we had previously been aware, some apparently containing language that the MLA panel also found to be 'inaoppropriate'.

Given the MLA’s history of secretly criticising work without right of reply from Mr Coates, as well as a one-sided approach to keeping Swindon ’s libraries open, we are left wondering why they decided not to comply with Freedom of Information law and withhold documents we have every right to see.

Any defender of the quango-state should look upon the business with the MLA and the Swindon libraries case study and wonder what role the quango really has in our society.

Tim Aker

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http://www.friendsofoldtownlibrary.co.uk Shirley Burnham

It is now essential, 6 months having been lost due to a bureaucratic nightmare, that Swindon’s cabinet, officers, CILIP, MLA, UNISON, representatives of community groups and others, sit down together to assess the Coates Report and the ERS Report. Residents face the following : a library (Walcot) manned uniquely by volunteers; another (Gorse Hill) to be closed; and two more to lose one member of staff. This need not have come to pass, had the MLA listened to the people instead of hiding behind the walls of the council’s citadel. To see extracts from the FOI information released by MLA to Taxpayers’ Alliance, please log onto our website. The tone of this material might well astonish, but we leave it to you to make up your own minds. We urge MLA to provide the material that has been withheld. Thank you Taxpayers’ Alliance and thank you Tim Coates for proving your integrity in a world in which such virtues appear to be sadly lacking. Please view our website only in ‘Explorer’.
Steve Robson

Why on earth are you defending libraries. They are an over-costly, under-used resource and precisely the sort of service that should be cut, probably completely, to balance the books. The problem is because none of you have ever had a proper job, you focus on trivial areas and miss the real opportunities to reduce taxes.
Nice Boy Nigel

On the one hand, you demand tax cuts and then on the other, demand that local libraries stay open. Libraries are valuable, but costly.
If you really believe that cutting councillor allowances would mean that services would not have to be cut, you are living in a dreamworld.
As I have said before, if the TPA and its supporters are genuinely concerned about the amount paid to elected members, they should stand for election and, if successful, refuse to take any allowance.
However, it seems far easier for you to snipe from the sidelines in your usual manner.
Steve – you post a lot of sense a lot of the time, but libraries are as essential to a civilised society as schools, hospitals and public transport.
http://www.taxpayersalliance.com Tim Aker

Steve and Nigel,
The Labour group on Swindon Borough Council moved that a small cut in council allowances be made to keep the libraries open. Tim Coates has put forward that better, efficient management can save loads and keep the libraries open. The solutions are there, from all sides of the spectrum, but the quango and council won’t listen.