Upper Norwood Library under threat as Croydon Council terminates agreement
THE future of the Upper Norwood Library has been placed in serious doubt after Croydon Council terminated its joint agreement with Lambeth.
The decision has been made by Croydon Council leader Mike Fisher and the borough’s chief executive Jon Rouse has now written to his counterpart in Lambeth.
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Campaigners protesting outside the Westow Hill library
Croydon says the decision has been made due to Lambeth’s 'fundamental breach of the terms of the agreement'.
The local authority says it will ensure the library remains open 'for the time being' while the two councils decides what happens next.
With the library being part of Lambeth borough, they must decide whether they want to take it on as part of their library service.
Councillor Sara Bashford, cabinet member for customer services, culture and sport, said: "We have asked Lambeth to respond to us with their view on the way forward in the next seven days.
"We have a responsibility to our residents to spend their money prudently and within the letter of the law, and with Lambeth boycotting its management role this is impossible."
Croydon says the breach has been caused by Lambeth refusing to attend the last annual general meeting and 'failing to co-operate' at the 2010 meeting.
This has meant 'no effective oversight of the management of the library for almost two years, including no effective oversight of financial management and staffing issues.'
And it claims Lambeth continues to insist on Croydon appointing Upper Norwood councillors on the committee, despite the fact the council is advised this would be illegal under current government legislation.
Cllr Fisher has insisted he will only appoint cabinet members to the committee.
Croydon added that while money remains in the account that was previously funded by the joint committee agreement, the borough will continue to employ the staff and ensure proper financial management.
2 Comments
by Ivor_Shed
Monday, October 24 2011, 7:36AM
“The future of all libraries is at risk. As luddites die off and e-books get cheaper and take over people will not read novels and reference books are already surpassed by the Internet. How many libraries have an atlas showing Southern Sudan?
I have been to a library and I did borrow a book. It was a green one.”
by bondski
Friday, October 21 2011, 2:35PM
“Croydon Council were looking for an easy or put the blame on the other Council, to bring this joint agreement to a close. What ever the make up of the UN Jt Library, there should have been at least one ward councillor from Upper Norwood and Gipsy Hill on that committee. To use the recent shenanigans concerning this matter as a way to opt out of its responsibilities, it looks like a contrived move by Croydon, who have wanted to get out of this agreement for many a year, to use Lambeth as their excuse. Perhaps recent legal judgementson closure of libraries have given them the fillip to carry forth their decision. Unfortunately, it is the ordinary members of the public who live in this natural, cross border community, that suffers. Yet another void building on Westow Hill - I thought it was a case of brinkmanship, at first, but knowing Croydon wants to cut their budgets, they have already put their amount of funding for this library down as a revenue saving for next year.”