Forums Forums Wirral Information Wirral Council March and Lobby of Wirral Councils cabinet meeting

Up to 967 signatures now. If everyone who reads this could sign the above petition, that would be great, thanks. It takes less than a minute.

Just a reminder about tomorrow evening:

"Wirral Council are proposing to reduce the opening hours of certain libraries to only 18 hours a week. This will not include the Central Libraries or those including one stop shops. The final decision will be made by the Council at Wallasey Town Hall tomorrow evening. Community groups and Friends groups have been invited to a rally outside the Town Hall at 5pm tomorrow evening. Friends members and library users are encouraged to go down and show support for our public library network. There may also be the opportunity to discuss any concerns you have with the Councilors as they enter the building.
The Council meeting itself starts at 6.15pm. Part of the meeting will include taking questions from members of the public. Please attend this meeting if you can!"

Great reception from Branch T.S. WE will be there

Be nice if you protest that hekp is needed for poeple to get back to work.That i would join a march.Question is how many have been unemployed?who still dont work?
will keep posted on this

I have tried my best to decipher this post but i cannot. If you disagree that that library services are due to be cut to the bone then come along 5pm tomorrow at Wallasey Town Hall- bring all your friends too.

I don't think you know your arse from your elbow. You and your great mates have been coming along (in theory) to demos, for over two years now- not spotted a single one of you.EVER.

Haven't a clue what you're talking about here, Helen. Don't speak Double Dutch. Still, you're very welcome to come down to Wallasey Town Hall tonight and help defend local services and jobs.

Has everyone missed this petition? I know I did ,until this morning. Sign, sign sign,.........come on chaps, could be your grandchildren who will need them one day. It all starts on a sliding scale, don't let it start.
Look up and you can find it to sign.

993 signatures now. Better, but still only a fraction of the Wirral population.

Grrrrr....I wrote an update before re. Direct actions that we could all take re. the decimation of Wirral Public Libraries- disappeared just as i was proof reading it.....Had hyperlinks and everything!!!!


Not one to be beaten- here's an abbreviated version, for now Update from Wirral SOS Meeting tonight:

Tell 'them' what you think about the Library Services being decimated!!!! Branch libraries to be open just 18 hours per week from March 2015 with the potential of being dropped again once service-users numbers drop- as with just 10am-2pm accessibility , typically two times per weekday EXCLUDES all our school aged children who would usually attend after 3pm. Inevitably, service users will drop offering our Elected Representatives justification to reduce further.

FIGHT BACK!!!! http://www.wirral.gov.uk/my-services/advice-and-benefits/contact-council/comments-and-complaints

You've made a very good point there - some clever tinkering with the hours by the council + what will happen to the staff reduce the hours -reduced income -look for a new job result no more qualified librarians if things do get better.
Just look at the building trade now a shortage of bricklayers, joiners etc (according to tv news)
I've worked in various libraries in Wirral logging folks on to the computers (and monitoring they were on appropriate sites) and have noticed a lot of kids usually came just after school finishes. The hours they've quoted were the best times for paid for courses (usually for silver surfers)run by WMC (I don't know if it made any money for the libraries)

Changes to library opening hours

I am writing to you as a valued customer of Wirral’s library services.

Wirral is proud to be one of the only Councils in the North West not to have closed a single library. Our 24 library sites provide a valued, varied and vital service to communities throughout the borough which the Council Leader has been, and remains, determined to protect.

However, the sheer scale of the financial challenges the Council is facing mean that no service can remain unchanged. We must make huge savings across the Council in order to deliver a balanced, legal budget.

The original savings proposal put forward was to reduce opening hours across the 15 community library sites to 10 hours per week. After considering the consultation feedback Members took the decision to reject this option and replace it with one that only saw the opening hours reduce to 18 hours per week. The opening hours at our 9 central libraries and those with One Stop Shop facilities included remain unchanged.

I absolutely understand and appreciate the vital role libraries play in every community. However, we are under huge pressure to make savings across all Council services due to the unprecedented funding reductions we face.

The proposal for how the 18-hours per week opening would work is contained within the ‘case for change’ document you can download from this e-mail.

We are now seeking the views of Library users on this opening schedule. If you have any suggestions, or believe the 18-hours per week opening model should be delivered in a different way, then please let us know.

We are required to begin the 18-hour per week opening schedule as from Monday, 2nd March 2015 to ensure the full savings can be implemented from April 1st 2015. In order for us to fully consider the views of library users please let us have your comments before 5pm on Friday, February 13th 2015.

Email us at [email protected] with your views, or write to Libraries Consultation, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey, CH44 8ED.

Thank you for your ongoing support for this vital community service.

Copy and Paste: Words by my friend and comrade, Leanne

Hi all. I just wanted to raise awareness of the move to cut library opening hours to just eighteen a week for some libraries on Wirral. This is in my view completely unacceptable. This will hit kids who have to use the facilities to do homework, it will affect job seekers who must use library computers to look for a certain number of jobs (or face benefit sanctions) and the suggestion by the council that people can just use public transport to get to a library that IS open is frankly insulting to those on low incomes and people with mobility difficulties. PLEASE JOIN THE FIGHTBACK. You can do this in a number of ways. 1) By writing to the council at [email protected] or by normal post to: Libraries Consultation, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey, CH44 8ED and letting them know your views. 2) Join your local library and encourage your family and friends to do the same. Use it or lose it! 3) Join a friends of your local library group. Details can be found here: https://www.wirral.gov.uk/…/library-gro…/friends-user-groups 4) Share this post far and wide, please encourage other wirral residents to make their views known. You've only got until 13th February to make your voice heard! ‪#‎WirralLoveYourLibraries‬

If this goes ahead, they won't need libraries for after school hours.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/educatio...ur-school-days-and-shorter-holidays.html

This is an even worse idea than closing the libraries.
Scotland have talked about a shorter week of half an hour a day. Resulting in £17million savings a year for one council.

Undertook some direct action today- very simple, very effective.

Met library users with a piece of paper outlining current branch opening hours and the proposed ones. Shocking at just how many people are unaware of the proposals.

Once engaged, we handed them the email address to post responses to the library consultation.

I don't usually post about direct actions that I undertake but I have on this occasion in the hope that other Library Lovers replicate the idea in their own areas.