Would you support a review of Wrexham Council’s library service? Have you say in ‘Difficult Decisions’ budget consultation now!

Would you support a full review of Wrexham’s library services to help ensure they are “affordable for the future”?

That is the question being posed to members of the public in Wrexham Council’s ‘‘Difficult Decisions 2019/20’ budget consultation.

In the past five years the local authority have made £33.8 million worth of cuts and this year, after a 0.6 per cent shortfall in the Welsh Government settlement, will have to look for savings of a further £9 million.

As part of these savings a number of potential revenue generators / cuts have been proposed, including into how the council operates its library services.

Wrexham Council operates 11 libraries across the county borough – including the mobile library – at a cost of over £1 million a year.

However it is estimated that by considering “options for community run libraries and lone working options for branch libraries and identify where further costs can be reduced for non front line services”, could save the council £130,000.

Now members of the public are being asked if they support whether the council should make changes to the way it currently deliver library services in one or two areas of the county; or if out full review of library services should be carried out to ensure they meet the needs of local residents, and are affordable for the future

A prelude in the Difficult Decisions consultation, states: “Local authorities in Wales have a duty to provide ‘adequate and sufficient’ library services; however, it is up to each authority to decide how they will provide these services in their area.

“In Wrexham, we currently spend approximately £1.3million on libraries every year, and so clearly, in these difficult times, this is an area that we need to review to ensure that it is efficient, and able to meet residents’ changing needs.

“Our proposal is that over the next year, we undertake a complete review of library services across Wrexham, in order to understand your needs and how best we could transform this service to meet those needs.

“Our expectation is that by doing this we would be able to deliver a more modern service, whilst also reducing spend in this area and helping bridge the gap in our budget in future years. As part of this review we would be engaging with communities where there are options for changing the service.

“We simply cannot continue with current spending in this area, therefore if we do not carry out this full scale review of library services, there will still need to be changes.

“We have identified some possible options for savings for 2019/20 (including potentially having to change the way we deliver library services in specific areas of the county) however it’s unlikely that these changes will contribute to the effectiveness of the service, or help to deliver a modernised service which meets local need; and there may still need to be further savings from this area in future.”

So what happens next?

Once the consultation closes, the results will be analysed and findings presented to all councillors in December.

These findings will help shape the decision making process for the budget for 2019/20. This will then be presented to the executive board in January 2019 for approval before being formally signed off by Full Council in February 2019.

Wrexham Council never listen anyway!

A comment frequently seen on social media and now seemingly addressed by Wrexham Council as part of the consultation.

In a statement published by Wrexham Council on its news blog earlier today, the local authority says it recognises people’s “frustration when it comes to consultations and the responses to them” and that the choices being put forward won’t be popular ones.

However Wrexham Council is urging people to take part, stating: “Since the start of austerity in 2008/9, every organisation has had to go to the public to find out what they think about some of the difficult choices they’ve had to make, as budgets have got increasingly tighter. And as cuts have continued, many feel that they’re not being listened to.

“But by not saying anything, or by writing this consultation off, you miss the chance to have your say. Don’t.

“As we noted above, these are services that impact on everyone – so the more people that have their say, the better.”

How can I take part in Wrexham Council’s Difficult Decisions 2019/20 Consultation?

You can complete the consultation / read some further information about the proposals on the Your Voice Wrexham website.

Paper copies are also available by request by calling 01978 292000.

You have until November 28th to have your say on the potential changes to bin collections – and other proposals.

We will be providing a break down on the various other proposals featured before the consultation closes, so keep an eye out and make sure you have your say!