Conservatives remain committed to Surrey's libraries 14th March 2006

Surrey’s Conservative controlled Executive has today rejected proposals to close libraries. The Executive have pledged that Hersham, Caterham Hill, Ewell Court and New Haw libraries will remain open in their current form, and a consultation will now take place to determine the provision of libraries services in Bagshot and Virginia Water.

The original decision to consult on the proposed closure of these libraries was due to the Council’s government created funded crisis. However, subsequent actions taken by the Conservatives on SCC have considerably improved the library service’s financial position. The budget agreed by Council last month proposes additional investment of £500,000 into the service and plans to dispose of the Drill Hall in Dorking will provide significant funds to improve Surrey’s libraries.

The Lib Dems opposed this extra investment at the Council’s budget meeting and have never revealed how much they would invest in Surrey’s libraries. Instead, they have consistently opposed moves to provide a modern library services based on books not buildings, which would result in a modern library service utilizing mobile libraries, mini-libraries, community libraries, home delivery service and on-line access depending on the needs of a particular communities. Yet in a press release issued by them last week they state they want to see longer opening hours, more books and more online facilities, exactly what the Conservatives have pledged to address.

Andrew Crisp, Executive portfolio holder for Schools, Children & Community Services, said:

“The closure of these libraries was only ever a proposal forced upon us by the government created funding crisis and arbitrary national targets. I very much welcome the decision by my Conservative colleagues on the Executive to now pledge that Hersham, Caterham Hill, Ewell Court and New Haw libraries will remain open. We have always remained committed to maintaining Surrey’s libraries and the Council has taken significant action to allow us to fulfil this commitment. The additional investment of £500,000 in this year’s budget and the sale of the Drill Hall Dorking will enable us to create attractive modern libraries for Surrey”

He added

The Lib Dems opposed our additional investment of £500,000 in this year’s budget, yet have never stated how much they would invest in libraries or where the money would come from. I call on them now to end their weeks of inconsistency and produce fully costed proposals for the service.“