LIBRARY TO OPEN FIVE DAYS A WEEK AGAIN
UPPER NORWOOD LIBRARY is set to open five days a week again.
Croydon council, announcing the move in a press statement, said their decision to match-fund Lambeth council’s grant to the library on Westow Hill, “will mean that the library can return to opening five days a week instead of three, as is the current case.”
No date for the return to five days a week opening has yet been announced – or whether there would be any increase in staffing at the library as a result.
Cllr Timothy Godfrey, Croydon council’s cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport, said: “We are passionate about ensuring Upper Norwood library is a vibrant community hub which clearly has the popular support of many residents in that area.
“By increasing the funding Croydon provides we can help to breathe new life into the library and secure its long-term future.”
Robert Gibson co-chair of the Upper Norwood Library Trust (UNLT) said: “For more than 100 years Croydon and Lambeth have jointly funded our unique independent library which serves all of Crystal Palace including over 19,000 Croydon residents.
“To have Croydon’s funding restored is a tribute to the people of Crystal Palace who have fought so hard for the library, and I would like to offer my profound thanks to the council for listening.
“The UNLT is an enthusiastic supporter of Croydon council’s reinvigorated commitment to culture for the borough.
“With its support and investment we look forward to the library boosting its strong social and economic returns, across the fields of education, literacy, digital inclusion, local history resources, cultural creativity, community cohesion and local fun.”
Cllr Godfrey has also clarified the grant figures for the library following his announcement at a public meeting earlier this month that the library would get an extra £47,750 from Croydon for the current financial year ending March 31st.
“We have matched funded Lambeth from 1st October” he told News From Crystal Palace.
“We only got elected at end of May and have had to find this money from council reserves. “I think it is a fair way to proceed and shows how we want to behave as an administration going forward.
“This money is on top of the base finding that Croydon had previously agreed for 2014/15 financial year.”
Lambeth council have been asked for a comment but have yet to reply.
SEE ALSO: LIBRARY TO OPEN THREE DAYS A WEEK – Five staff lose their jobs (April 10th 2013)
UPPER NORWOOD JOINT LIBRARY will only open for three days a week from
Monday April 29th – and closing for lunch on two of them.
Five staff will be losing their jobs – a reduction from the current
complement of 10 – four other vacant positions having remained
unfilled.
The 40 per cent-plus cut in opening times is a direct result of
Croydon’s Conservative councillors voting to pull out of the 112 year
old historic agreement between Croydon and Lambeth councils running
the country’s only independent public library in the wake of their
hotly-disputed claim that only cabinet members could sit on the
library joint committee.
