I am writing to you all ahead of the Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 10th of November at 6.30pm at Lilian Bayliss School, 323 Kennington Lane, Kennington SE11 5QY which calls in the Lambeth Library proposals. I am writing out of a deep sense of sadness, weariness and yes anger and frustration because a Lambeth cabinet member choses not to engage with a community set to lose statutory provision of library service from half its libraries. I went on the Library March on Saturday to keep all 10 Lambeth Libraries offering a statutory provision of library service despite the wet and the cold and with me were in excess of 40 people that trogged down from Crystal Palace & Gipsy Hill from babies in Prams with their parents, to elderly retired. That is quite a gesture of solidarity because lets face it we don’t often come down the hill in numbers.  I am a Lambeth resident and deeply proud of the many bottom up community initiatives that Lambeth Council has supported and the many visionary projects the council has pioneered. That is why I can’t understand why the Council Members have not binned these hotch potch uncosted, untested proposals for its libraries presented by the officers. I know Lambeth is facing huge ideologically driven cuts from national government. But do you know how badly it sounds to people when you say its not our fault you don’t understand these are Tory cuts. We do understand. Not that it should matter to anyone, but I joined the Labour party to fight austerity and to get Helen Hayes selected and then elected. I believed Steve Reed’s vision that the Co-operative council was a good way of working in a difficult funding climate. If cuts have to be made trust and work with the people. But instead now we have a diktat from officers which absolutely no Friends of Lambeth Library Group or library users or staff representatives supports, these are the very people who have given their all to support their libraries and much other community infrastructure. These are the bedrock of doers. Yet who is listening to their voices? On the March I saw a poster that said in times of austerity closing libraries is like closing hospitals in a time of plague. That is why people turned up in the filthy weather and why the opposition to these proposals will only strengthen its resolve. The council will end up wasting money in legal challenges, and have its reputation pounded as celebrities are drawn in and a myriad of PR stunts are dreamed up by library users across the borough which lets face it are going to be creative people. There will inevitably be an electoral reckoning too. You may feel this would be misdirected but if you take much loved institutions from their communities, communities will not forget. Many of these libraries are Talismanic of the local communities. In periods of unsettling change Libraries have been there for people in many instances for at least a century. People are feeling increasingly alienated and priced out yet the library has been a constant public space and a service that welcomes all and is disinterested in their wallets. On the March on Saturday I met loads of people from libraries totally unaffected by the current Lambeth library plans on the March from Clapham, Streatham, Brixton, West Norwood. They were totally against a post code lottery approach. There were Union reps on the March but most weren’t they were parents, kids, old people, vulnerable people, disabled people of all backgrounds and races and of all political parties and none. From posh to gang members. The current proposals make Lambeth look like it is set against people who want to defend their communities and to make them better. Like me many of the people around me were Labour supporters they trusted the Labour Council on the issue of Libraries. Now there are at least five centres in the borough that will become hostile to the present council. That shouldn’t be a factor in your decision library supporters come from all parties and none. But I think if you take much loved libraries from communities they will look for electoral retribution taking the things that they will regard are much loved to you. This is not personal or political we understand savings need to be made. We should be working together. Efficiencies put into place services collocated etc. But why are we not sitting round the table together to come up with acceptable solutions for everyone? We have had a box ticking consultation. Then a completely different solution than that presented to Lambeth residents. The officers have not worked with any groups on these proposals. As a former member of the Upper Norwood Library Trust I’ve sat down with Lambeth officers more than most, the proposals that have been presented are a travesty of those discussions. Lambeth can be visionary but the current officer-led proposals really do a disservice to the reputation and people of Lambeth Here are some ideas just from me that are at least worth exploring: Get rid of the idea of a post code lottery and ask for savings across the entire network Create additional income generation models More paying concerts, poetry events literary festivals etc round the libraries Elements of S. 106 payments could be allocated to libraries Developers for extra planning gain could hand over their ground rents to create an income stream for libraries ground rents are so incidental to the super profits they are currently enjoying but pooled together in a portfolio could create a substantial ongoing fund which would provide much needed income Health promotion budgets could be used to help support libraries other council services could also be located there Officers could be deployed or a professional bid writer employed solely to focus on drawing outside funding into all the libraries. Create a charitable trust that holds the 10 library buildings or use other measures to reduce business rates liability across the portfolio Use the libraries to be a flagship network of digital inclusion and suck in the funding that is available for this Explore funding possibilities for a network of Makerspaces based in the libraries Maybe worth thinking of giving the staff of the smaller libraries more autonomy like the Upper Norwood Library and generate back office savings? What happened to Lambeth’s previous proposal for an endowment fund to support libraries? I had issues with it but it at least it was creative. The spin that no libraries are being sold so the endowment had to go is very misleading. I was always told by officers that the funding would also come from the sales of other council buildings not just libraries and also a direct contribution from the council. Rather than reject out of hand the idea of a staff mutual for 10 libraries lets see how it could be made to work and generate the savings, indeed boost its outcomes. Libraries shouldn’t be an Albatross around the neck of Lambeth Council we could turn this around to be a beacon of creativity and innovation. In just the last year Lambeth Library services have been better than they ever have been and are a huge credit to the council. Instead of building on that wonderful success which seems to have been unnoticed by senior officers. All of the expense and effort of turning around the service seems to be just thrown away. Despite massive cuts already delivered by Croydon and Lambeth to the Upper Norwood Library budget I believe Lambeth’s increased involvement there has also reaped massive social and economic returns in Crystal Palace. On a more personal note I find it deeply troubling that as a Lambeth resident and a member of the Lambeth Labour party, that Jane Edbrooke has blocked not only I but the Upper Norwood Library Campaign which has over 2000 followers from her twitter feed. Are we not able to have a debate in this party? Shouldn’t the cabinet member for libraries have a responsibility and an accountability to one of the biggest library campaign groups in our area? I was pleased Jane decided not to cancel her surgery at Tate South but disappointed she didn’t address the Marchers. But fair enough she was there. However it is a misrepresentation to suggest as she did that the mood of the march was intimidatory. Also she cited police figures of 100-150 well I’m not sure where they came from but take a look at the pictures of Windrush Square and that does not bear any scrutiny. The organisers put the numbers at 600. Speaking personally I know there were at least 40 people from Crystal Palace on the March. I don’t claim to know everyone from Crystal Palace (I’m working on it ) but I don’t think that Crystal Palace supporters made up 50% of the March though I could be wrong… If I in any of my tweets to Councillor Edbrooke came across as particularly strident I’m afraid that’s because I have given a large chunk of the last 5 years defending our library. The current proposals leave us with a community centre with no professional staff - that in our opinion is not a library. I feel the Upper Norwood Library Trust has been particularly shabbily treated no other Friends Group has gone further to work with Lambeth it has submitted countless business plans which is more than GLL has done for its ‘bookish gyms’ proposals, and submitted a number of budgets none of that work has been recognised in proposed figures for Upper Norwood. The Community has always said Crystal Palace should have a properly funded town centre library with professional staff. Not to put a fine point on it Labour’s electoral success in Upper Norwood and Gipsy Hill and other nearby wards was as a result of what people thought was Labour’s support for Upper Norwood Joint Library. You know that any Lambeth proposal to reduce funding is uniquely doubly drastic if Croydon match it. And yet more positively any additional investment in the library has double the social return if Croydon match it. I feel that I personally have also been treated pretty shabbily, I do it because I want to, but I do a huge amount of community work across our five boroughs, and yet because I appeal directly to our local community and my local elected representatives. I am undermined by Senior Lambeth officers who tried to say that campaigning for my library made me an unsuitable to be a Trustee of the library I love. I’m sorry but I believe in accountability and inclusivity and the Upper Norwood Library Campaign has the numbers and the support to prove that. I’m actually quite shy by nature but on the library front my blood is stirred. If any of my tweets have gone beyond the pale I whole heartedly apologise. But as far as I am aware they have never been abusive. I believe we have been seriously let down. And if me being angry seems extreme. Just read some of the saintly Laura Swaffield’s tweets chair of the Friends Of Lambeth Libraries who has been defending libraries for much longer than I. All of the Friends Groups not just the threatened libraries reflect that same anger and confusion that a Lambeth council cannot come up with a better solution. Please don’t let the officers sleep walk you into a maelstrom of angst. We all know we can do better together. We do feel let down by Lambeth Council, and I do think the Friends of Lambeth Libraries have been betrayed by these proposals. I think the present proposals are letting down the people of Lambeth and I believe Lambeth can work together with its residents to come up with a much better set of proposals. I will be the first to take a seat round the table with the Council Leader, officers and all our library groups to help make this happen. A rethink on these proposals would be a wonderful tonic for the reputation of Lambeth. I believe we can and should work together to make this happen. Yours Sincerely, Robert Gibson Friend of Lambeth Libraries & Upper Norwood Library Campaign