Tag Archives: Upper Norwood library

CROYDON MAY NOT MEET LIBRARY REDUNDANCY COSTS – community trust could foot any bill. “Responsibility lies with Croydon as the employer” – Labour councillor

11 Oct
 
 
ANY REDUNDANCY costs for Upper Norwood Joint Library could fall on the community trust – or other organisation – which takes over the library.
 
Croydon council moved the goalposts at last Friday’s meeting of its scrutiny and overview committee which was considering the ‘call in’ by Labour councillors of its cabinet committee’s controversial decision to give the library just £75,000 next year.
 
A report to the the council’s cabinet committee meeting of  September 17th where the decision to give Upper Norwood just £75,000 was taken had admitted that “The cost of redundancies for the full staff group would be in the region of £100,000 plus and in this circumstance, it is unlikely that support to share the cost would be given by Lambeth” – the implication being that Croydon would have to pick up any redundancy tab.
 
At Friday’s meeting Cllr Carole Bonner (Lab. Fieldway) asked if any consultations had taken place with staff – and what the expected redundancy costs would be if that situation arose. 
 
Cllr Tim Pollard, lead councillor on the library issue, responding, said “It would be premature to talk to Lambeth about redundancies at this point in time, not knowing what the final structure would be.”
 
A woman officer then said they had to wait for the decision of that night’s meeting. The process that has to take place with ‘not for profit’ funding meant they had to go to the community and ask for an expression of interest, she said.
 
“That has to be done in company with Lambeth council. “Until then we won’t know who the transfer will be to. “There’s a very formal process – strict procedures that need to be followed” added the officer who also said staff were being informed of developments. “I sent a briefing note to staff this week” she added.
 
Cllr Bonner: “I don’t think my question’s been answered.”
 
Declaring her lay membership of an employment tribunal, Cllr Bonner added: “The responsibility lies with Croydon as the employer.  ”I can’t imagine Lambeth will be willing to contribute towards that given the disparity in these costs.” (A reference to Lambeth giving £170,000 to the library next year compared to Croydon’s £75,000).
 
Committee vice chairman Cllr Sean Fitzsimons (Lab Addiscombe) asked if this would come out of the £245,000 which Lambeth and Croydon were giving. Cllr Pollard (Con. Sanderstead) said this was something they had to sit down and discuss with Lambeth.
 
Cllr Bonner said: “It would be the community trust’s job to make redundancies.” An officer responded: “Cllr Pollard has illustrated the principle we’d want to work with – to consider that we could achieve that principle.”
 
Later in the meeting committee chairman Cllr Steve Hollands (Con. Kenley) said library staff needed to understand where this process was going in a very short timetable. Responding, Cllr Bonner said: “It needs to be realistic and you mustn’t forget your legal obligations on consulting staff are onerous.
 
“Before you start consulting over the proposed transfer you need to have a body to transfer to. “The timetable is challenging given where we are. “I’d be thinking about being careful before taking on any responsibility.”
 
Cllr Hollands: “My understanding is there will be something in a cabinet paper that’s being put together.”
 
Paul Greenhalgh, lead officer on the issue, then intervened. “We want to establish some kind of framework but don’t want to do anything that would jeopardise the effective running of the library by a community trust” he said. 
 
“The wording of the cabinet paper gives that responsibility to the lead member and myself to achieve that deadline if we can and, if we can’t, to achieve that as soon as we possibly can thereafter.” (Voice from the public gallery: “It’s constructive dismissal.”)
 
Deputy committee chairman Cllr Jason Cummings (Con. Heathfield), asking if the timetable allowed time for consultation, was told by an officer: “Our time plan does allow for consultation to take place. “It’s a challenging time scale and we have to be mindful of that.”
 
Earlier in the meeting Cllr Timothy Godfrey, as invited opposition spokesman for culture, said that to draw up community trust proposals a proper timeframe was needed which made the community trust work and work with the existing staff and plan what type of service was needed.
 
Robbie Gibson, for the Upper Norwood Library Campaign, told the meeting there was a fear library resources would be “cannibalised” to pay for redundancies. “If we have a budget and a business plan to get this library thriving we have to get this on certainties.”
 
He quoted advice given to the UNLC by a chartered surveyor:  ”Speaking personally, I should be most reluctant to become a trustee/ director of the proposed not for profit organisation since it would appear to be based on a misanalysis of the costs involved suggesting that it should receive a completely inadequate level of funding and is so doomed to failure.”
 
OWNERSHIP: Cllr Terry Lenton (Con. Coulsdon East) asked who would own the library building and what responsibility would “new management” have for maintenance of the building.
Cllr Pollard: “What’s decided has to be decided in conjunction with Lambeth. “The sensible way would be for the councils to retain the freehold and for the community trust to run it on full repairing and insuring but on a peppercorn basis” he said.
 
 
“IN QUOTES……….”
 
(Please note: The following comments were all either made at the scrutiny committee meeting, or appeared in written submissions made by the Upper Norwood Library Campaign (UNLC) or Crystal Palace Community Association (CPCA) to the committee.
For the benefit of newcomers to this, some of the comments in the submissions below give a background to long-standing issues, especially Croydon’s continued comparison of Upper Norwood library with its branch libraries. 
There has long been a strong suspicion among Upper Norwood library supporters that these figures have been dressed up by officers to cover their backsides and conceal real figures (from both Conservative and Labour administrations) as this could leave those officers jobs at risk – a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas……
 
 
“It says something about the loyalty of the existing staff. “They have been victims of a level of uncertainty and political shenanigans that’s totally unacceptable – and it’s only the support of the community that’s kept them going.”  - Robbie Gibson, UNLC
 
“The breaking of the long-standing joint library agreement, without referral to arbitration, was justified by the leader of Croydon council as ‘strong leadership’. “In attempting to justify their actions, Croydon have erased the UNJL from their written constitution.” – John Payne, CPCA
 
“How has a dispute about governance, been transformed into yet another attack by Croydon council on the joint library and its funding and staff?” – CPCA submission.
 
“Croydon has failed to mention the demonstrable cost-effectiveness of the UNJLA, claiming in their cabinet report that the joint library is ‘more expensive than a Croydon branch library’.” – CPCA submission.
  
“The report to September’s Croydon council cabinet meeting provided a table of 2011-12 direct running costs, suggesting that UNJL has enjoyed a far more generous funding allocation, or is vastly less efficient than Selsdon, Thornton Heath or Bradmore Green (Coulsdon) libraries.
“The report shows the full funding allocation to UNJL, but omits the full costs of providing the Croydon integrated library services across the rest of the borough.  Thus, it does not compare like with like.” – UNLC submission.
 
“Croydon branch libraries have the benefit of many centrally procured services which do not appear in their individual budget allocations.  
“UNJL has to procure all its own services, so the budget allocation needs to fund each and every cost of providing the library service, and not just the front-of-house services applied to Croydon branch library budgets.” – UNLC submission.
 
“In 2010/2011, Croydon’s library service spent over £3.3 million on centrally provided services such as customer focus (which includes IT – £1,385,526); customer services (the call centre – £224,537) and human resources (includes recruitment and training – £111,577).  
“Although these costs were not applied to its branch libraries, these funds were spent on supporting Croydon’s library service as a whole.
“If divided amongst Croydon’s thirteen branch libraries, this would equate to £255,986 per branch” – UNLC submission.
 
“Croydon’s offer of £75,000 assumes that UNJL will have a zero budget for the services on which Croydon spends an average of nearly £256,000 per branch” – UNLC submission..
 
“The dispute over governance has been used as a pretext to resurrect Croydon’s ruling party’s long-running obsession with undermining the stability, functionality and financing of the UNJL, with similar ill-informed attacks made in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2007 and 2010.
“Pre-occupation with making invalid and fundamentally flawed cost comparisons surface repeatedly, presumably as a means of advancing an agenda of control, cuts, takeover or closure.” – CPCA submission.
 
“Croydon have persistently attempted to undermine the independent status and governance arrangements of the joint library down the years. “The events of 2010-12 are just the latest in a long line of incidents.
“It is not the independent management arrangements that have been a problem but rather Croydon’s total lack of commitment to them and to the people that they have served so well for more than 11 decades.” – CPCA submission.
 
“Why does Croydon council persistently seek to misrepresent the true value for money and proportionate cost effectiveness of the stand-alone UNJLA, by deploying false comparisons with system integrated and centrally supported branch libraries, which exclude around 40 to 50 per cent (comprising libraries division and corporate overheads) of the cost of the latter, but include all of the pro-rata costs of the former?
“This is a fundamentally flawed and invalid comparison; skewed to justify disproportionate revenue and staffing reductions at the joint library.” - CPCA submission
 
“The library does not form part of an integrated library network and does not have, or need, access to the costly support overheads (including borough-wide staff and specialists and relief provision) of a libraries department or division.” – CPCA submission.
 
 ”Croydon’s imposed and unilateral annexation of the UNJL (and of its staff) has demoralised the people whose commitment, morale and motivation will be critical to the future success of the new ‘not for profit’ management body, which is being supported by both Croydon and Lambeth.
“It is time for Croydon to desist from their inappropriate ‘control agenda’ which is not seen as beneficial to UNJL staff, service users, or Lambeth council residents.” – CPCA submission.
 
“Croydon council issued two press releases in July 2010 and January 2011. “The first stated that branch libraries in Croydon cost £300,000 each to run. “The second that they supposedly cost only £100,000 – a fall of two thirds in six months!.” – CPCA submission.
 
“Support for the council’s decision to outsource its borough library service was claimed to be prominent in the findings of a consultation on possible library closures in 2010/11.
“A subsequent Freedom of Information request discovered that only one out of the thousands of respondents had even mentioned the word outsourcing (and this within the context of a different council service).” – CPCA submission.
 
“Lambeth council contend that the joint committee has not been dissolved and there are significant legal questions over Croydon’s ‘dissolution by press release’.” – CPCA submission.
 
“The joint library is constantly compared unfavourably and inappropriately to the Croydon library service and a governance dispute has now become a rationale for hugely disproportionate cuts.” – CPCA submission. 
 
“If an independent UNJL is to be sustainable……….Croydon Council needs to provide the same level of financial support to UNJL as it allocates to its own branch libraries elsewhere in the borough” – UNLC submission.
 
“The Upper Norwood Library Campaign, as the key community organisation involved, stands willing to work closely with those involved to develop a publicly funded community trust to provide an exciting new era for this much loved library.  
“A new organisation, the Upper Norwood Library Trust, is being created to take forward discussions with both Croydon and Lambeth Councils with the aim of the local community taking over the governance of the library, working with professional staff and funding from both local authorities” – UNLC submission..
  
“If an independent UNJL is to be sustainable, Croydon council needs to provide the same level of financial support to UNJL as it allocates to its own branch libraries elsewhere in the borough.” - UNLC submission.
 
“In past years, UNJL produced regular summaries of performance, expenditure and activities, together with statistical information for consideration by the governing joint committee.  
“For the Croydon library service, the only performance and value for money information available for general public scrutiny has been the total cost of libraries and culture in the council budget book.” - UNLC submission.  
 
“Croydon’s presentation of its library budget is completely opaque.” - Robbie Gibson, UNLC
 
“Nowhere does it say how you’re going to run a proper local library service” - Cllr Sean Fitzsimons (Lab)
 
“A community trust would be able to run a really good library on that budget” - Cllr Tim Pollard (Con)
 
“We hope the council will sit down with us and, in the spirit of localism, work with us” – Robbie Gibson, UNLC
 
“I can’t really answer the question about what their staff are doing” – Cllr Tim Pollard
 
“It operates on two floors” - Cllr Tim Pollard, showing his in-depth knowledge of Thornton Heath library.
 
“I appreciate my motives will always be open to criticism” - Cllr Tim Pollard
 
“It’s a grant made by Croydon to an outside body. “In my view, how much it costs to run Selsdon library, how much it costs to run Norbury library, doesn’t come into it.” - Cllr Steve Hollands, Con.
 
“We haven’t seen the figures to agree or disagree on” - Cllr George Ayres, Lab. “The figures are in here that the council considers sufficient to run a community library” – Cllr Hollands.
 
“There’s nothing for the council to go back and look at” - Cllr Jason Cummings (Con)
 
“You don’t care, do you?” – Cllr Pat Ryan (Lab. observer at meeting)
 
 
 
 
 

LIBRARY SPENDING FIGURE ‘PLUCKED FROM THE AIR’ – meeting is told

9 Oct
 CROYDON’S SPENDING figure for Upper Norwood library had been “plucked from the air” Friday night’s meeting of the council”s scrutiny committee heard.
 
The accusation came from scrutiny committee vice chairman Cllr Sean Fitzsimons as the committee debated Croydon council cabinet’s controversial decision to give Upper Norwood joint library funding of just £75,000 next year.
 
Cllr Fitzsimons, told Cllr Tim Pollard, council deputy leader and cabinet member for culture, “You seem unconcerned about the costs and justification behind this decision.” Cllr Fitzsimons (Lab. Addiscombe) said the report was very confident about the £245,000 it would cost to run UNJL. He told Cllr Pollard: “It would be really interesting to hear from you to see how you justify that figure”
 
Cllr Pollard: “The £245,000 is the contribution of the two boroughs and the income the library receives from various non-book lending activities the library carry out. 
“What we’ve done is look at the non-staff based costs of UNJL and there’s no particular reason to suppose this will be different once the community trust is running them and then look at what a staffing model might look at to enable a good library service to be run in that building.”
 
Cllr Fitzsimons: “You’ve got a figure and think that’s what it will cost to run the service. “Nowhere in there have you said what will provide a service for residents. “You’ve plucked it from the air. “There’s no justification – how many books will that buy? how many staff can help residents? whether you’ll keep opening hours at reasonable levels.
“I’m struggling to understand the basis of your decision. “Nowhere does it say how you’re going to run a proper local library service.”
 
Cllr Pollard: “With respect you’re hearing what you want to hear.”
 
Answering questions from deputy chairman Cllr Jason Cummings (Con. Heathfield), Cllr Pollard said Upper Norwood library had slightly longer opening hours. Other than that the bulk of the services were broadly the same.
Thornton Heath was a large library which operated on two floors. “I can’t really answer the question about what other staff are doing” said Cllr Pollard. “There’s a question whether it’s right or fair for one area of the borough to enjoy more than another.”
 
Cllr Fitzsimons, apparently consulting spread sheets which were not available to those attending the meeting in the public gallery: said: You’ve referred to the Thornton Heath library being comparable. “The 2012 budget paper gave a net expenditure of £284,000 to Thornton Heath with central overhead costs of £138,000.
“Reading these two papers proves the council were probably underfunding the library – or Thornton Heath is getting a better deal. “Can you explain why Thornton Heath gets more out of this?” he asked.
 
Cllr Pollard said this was the closest analogy to Upper Norwood. “It operates on two floors. “You would expect Thornton Heath to be more expensive to operate than Upper Norwood. but the total budget is likely to be similar” he said. (Thornton Heath, Selsdon and Bradmore Green had been picked as the nearest ‘comparable’ libraries to Upper Norwood for comparison purposes).
 
Cllr Fitzsimons, quoting figures for Selsdon library of £256,000 plus £120,000 of overheads, said: ”I’m confused about your financial justification unless you’re planning to do substantial cuts to other libraries.”
 
Cllr Pollard: “Upper Norwood is completely different and in the future going forward it will be completely different.”There’s no link between the Upper Norwood model and the model for our libraries going forward. “It’s far more efficient with flexible staff rostering “The point I keep making: this organisation would still have corporate recharges and corporate costs.”
 
The invited Labour opposition speaker Cllr Timothy Godfrey, in defence of the library, said the issue had generated a large amount of public reaction. Referring to the crowded public gallery on a Friday night he urged the committee to look again at the decision.
There were a number of issues including the lack of proper comparison with Croydon libraries costs - and some assertions made in the paper before the committee “which weren’t basically true” said Cllr Godfrey.
He asked the committee to go through the report in detail and go through the actual costs in the paper before them.
“I ask you where your loyalties lie – are you here to protect front line services or back office costs and the very large council contracts the council has?” asked the shadow spokesman for culture.
He welcomed the issue of a community trust “It’s a model that’s the ideal way to engage in running other libraries. “But we need a proper timeframe that makes a community trust work and work with existing staff and what type of service would be needed.”
It would be acceptable to reduce the current grant to UNJL but to cut it from £200000 to £75,000 was not a sustainable way, added Cllr Godfrey.
“It will probably damage the library service and make it impossible to deliver. “Why haven’t savings been made elsewhere in the libraries budget?” he demanded to know.
He looked forward to the community challenging the details behind the report and the committee looking at this “in some cross-party decision”.
 
As the meeting neared its end and comments from the gallery became more vociferous, Cllr George Ayres (Lab. New Addington) complained: ”We haven’t seen the figures to agree or disagree”
Cllr Hollands: “The figures are in here that the council considers sufficient to run a community library.”
Cllr Cummings said there was nothing for the council to go back and look at. “I see no justification for a community library anywhere to operate on what Upper Norwood is operating on.”
Cllr Hollands  said the library staff needed to understand “where this process is going in a very short time table. Cllr Cummings asked if this allowed time for consultation. Cllr Hollands said his understanding was that there would be something in a cabinet paper that was being put together.
 
 
GALLERY SKETCH  
(by our special correspondent Quentin Letsby-Avenue)
 
PEOPLE ARRIVING at Friday’s meeting were given a ‘Welcome to the scrutiny committee’ meeting which confusingly has a (Conservative) deputy chairman and a (Labour) vice chairman – with the Conservative deputy chairman sitting with other councillors and the Labour vice chairman sitting to the right of the scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Steve Hollands.
The committee is a bit like an appeal court – but clearly the Conservative majority on the committee had decided their verdict in advance.
Cllr Tim Pollard opened his defence. “The Chamber would be very aware of the background to this” he said, repeating the Croydon Tory charge that it was all Lambeth’s fault (Honest M’lud).
They had carried out a number of scenarios “relating to the future provision or not” of library services “in that area”. (I think he just meant ‘that area’ rather than ’THAT area’).
(The committee then heard from Robbie Gibson, for the Upper Norwood Library Campaign; Mandy Sciberras for the Gipsy Hill Residents Association; and John Payne for the Crystal Palace Community Association  Their submissions will be reported later.)
They were followed by Upper Norwood ward Cllr John Wentworth (Lab). In arguably the best speech of the evening he said it was “not fair” to say Upper Norwood could be treated as a branch library. Cllr Pollard had been very critical when Labour councillors had told the cabinet meeting they would match Lambeth’s funding
“By just putting the arbitrary figure of £250,000 ‘and we’re just going to make up the difference.’
“If next year Lambeth was to cut their grant for the library to £70,000 would Croydon come up with the other £170,000? “I doubt that very much indeed.
“No other library in Croydon has been treated in this way. “I don’t understand why you consider it reasonable for one library to be treated so unfairly.
“Of all the libraries and services I see in this borough that”s the one institution that stands the best chance of having a community trust and community involvement. “People are passionate about it. “They have the skills and confidence to run that library but it has to be given a fair chance.
“£75,000 doesn’t give that a fair chance. “I don’t believe this is a party political issue . “If the cabinet are serious about giving this library a fair chance they will reverse this decision to secure this library’s future.”
Questions to speakers – and their responses -  then followed. Mr Gibson said Croydon’s presentation of its library budget was “completely opaque. “At £75,000 we are fighting to stop drowning.” He later added that it would be in Croydon’s interest, from a PR (public relations) point-of-view for Croydon in backing the library.
“We hope the council will sit down with us and in the spirit of localism and work with us. “This Campaign is not going to go away.
 
Cllr Terry Lenton (Con. Coulsdon East) addressing the issue of a community library, asked if funds could be got from Bromley or Southwark or Lewisham. “Would it not be unreasonable to expect a contribution?” she asked. (Actually – yes, it would. I recall Cllr Eddy Arram, addressing an annual meeting of the Upper Norwood Library Campaign, recounting his days as Croydon libraries committee chairman asking Bromley for some contribution – and getting zero.)
 
Mr Gibson had a great answer for this. “We’re dealing with two local authorities. “Dealing with five would be even harder. “It’s been tried before. “For a community trust library to be a success we have to work with certainty. “If we’ve a budget and business plan to get this library thriving we have to get this on certainties.
And in a prize sideswipe added: “Why should Southwark and Bromley contribute when they feel Croydon have failed?”
 
Questions of cabinet members and officers then followed. Cllr George Ayres (Lab, New Addington)  in questions to Cllr Pollard,  said the burden the library service was carrying was totally disproportionate to the cost the front line services have. “The problem Upper Norwood has is Croydon council costings. “I’m surprised that’s not the prism through which this problem has been looked at.”
Cllr Pollard “That’s a very big philosophical question – one of the conundrums comparing Upper Norwood and other libraries is comparing apples and bananas. “That’s what we tried to do. “We’re not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes” Baa…Baa.. Humbug.
“The fundamental difference is UNJL lives on its own. “It has a number of expenses you can’t track back and charge against. “In what cost centre do you charge the running of Croydon town hall against?” asked Cllr Pollard.
(At this point a words of explanation: It would appear certain centralised costs are loaded onto libraries in Croydon. But it appears to be very difficult to establish just what these costs are. Whether Croydon town hall costs are loaded onto branch libraries was not made clear.The cost of running Croydon town hall is a new subject on the whole library funding issue.)
 
“I don’t want to be political but we’re vastly more efficient” added Cllr Pollard (who obviously hadn’t been briefed about BBC TV’s Newsnight programme the previous evening which revealed that n the first seven months of this year, Croydon spent more than £1.5 MILLION on ONE bed and breakfast provider, EuroHotels, alone. The BBC TV News website reports – and I quote:  “Croydon now has 180 such cases – accounting for most of the families in B&B accommodation in the borough. “This is an extraordinary jump from last year, when Croydon recorded that it had no families in such circumstances – though Newsnight has evidence of several families who spent months in B&B accommodation provided by Croydon in 2011 – which suggests that official figures may hide the true scale of the problem.”) Official figures? Hmmmm…….
 
Back to Cllr Pollard: “When you look at how UNJL spends its money the fundamental difference is the amount of money spent on staff – each of our branch libraries operate on half the number UNJL does. “Is it fair across the borough to say one area will be funded to operate in a completely different way? “That doesn’t make sense.” 
(Note to local planning and amenity groups: this is one to use against Croydon in the future. Croydon want to build 700 new homes in the Upper Norwood area. So if Upper Norwood gets 700 (which we haven’t got room for) then so too will Sanderstead, Selsdon and Ballards and other Tory-held council wards. I mean, after all, why should one area be treated in a different way?)
 
Cllr  Ayres said that using the figures from the report and the total cost, the figure being allocated to Upper Norwood would be £520,000 – to which Cllr Pollard, reprising comments he’d made at the cabinet meeting said “”Absolutely fascinating way to run the finances of the town.”
Respoinding to Cllr Fitzsimons,Cllr Pollard had said Thornton Heath was the closest analogy to Upper Norwood. “It operates on two floors. “You would expect Thornton Heath to be more expensive to operate than Upper Norwood. but the total budget is likely to be similar.”
And then, in a classic ‘Yes Minister’ – type moment, Cllr ‘Two Floors’ Pollard added: “I appreciate my motives will always be open to criticism.”
Picking up on an earlier comment from Cllr Pollard,  Cllr Fitzsimons said UNJL can exist on £240,000 “so I’m very interested what you think the purpose of a library is for – and what do you think libraries do?”
Cllr Pollard said this was a difficult question to answer .
“Everyone has a different view of a library” he said. – newspapers – homework – every user had a different perspective. Responding, Cllr Fitzsimons said it was “good to get an understanding about totalitarian views on libraries.” 
 
Cllr Pollard then turned his attention to community libraries. “What do community libraries normally run on?” he asked. “If this goes through and UNJL runs on £280,000 it will probably be the most generously-funded community library in the entire country.
“Lewisham’s libraries are mainly run on about £100,000 and in Lambeth libraries are operating on £100,000 – £120,000. “You missed the point that these costs, whether you account them onto libraries or not, still have to be met by the council.”
 
Asked about the rationale behind the timing of a community library running from April 1st Cllr Pollard said that what went to cabinet was an assumption. “It’s a challenging timescale but one that none the less is achievable. “What I’m not interested in is going into freefall and being stalled again and again.”
As the meeting went into the final act, Cllr Hollands had declared of the library funding, somewhat bizarrely, “It’s a grant made by Croydon to an outside body. “In my view how much it costs to run Selsdon library, how much it costs to run Norbury library doesn’t come into it.”
Gallery: “Show some integrity.” “Don’t just serve your party – serve the people”
Cllr Hollands, taking a sideswipe at earlier comments by Cllr Godfrey, said very few people had attended the cabinet committee meeting when it had first been discussed. 
He then asked Cllr Pat Ryan (Lab. Upper Norwood) to remove himself “if he continues to disrupt the meeting” (From the front row of the gallery I’d only heard Cllr Ryan – one of five Upper Norwood and South Norwood ward councillors attending the meeting as observers – make one comment of just five words).
A few minutes later the following exchange ensued:
Cllr Hollands (addressing an unidentified person in the council chamber): “Would you leave?”
Voice: “No”
Cllr Hollands: “It’s exactly the sort of behaviour I would have expected.”
I suspect the people attending Friday’s meeting probably feel the same about the Conservatives behaviour that night.
   
 
  

AMAZING SCENES IN CROYDON TOWN HALL – LEGAL CHALLENGE OVER LIBRARY?

6 Oct
CROYDON COUNCIL could face a legal challenge over the future of Upper Norwood joint library after amazing scenes rarely – if ever – seen in an English council’s town hall last night (Friday).
 
No vote was actually taken by Croydon’s scrutiny and overview committee over the controversial decision by Croydon’s cabinet to give the library just £75,000 funding next year.
 
But it appeared that scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Steve Hollands had decided the cabinet decision was the right one – and that was that.
 
As the meeting neared its end after almost three hours of questions and debate Cllr Hollands repeatedly threatened to clear the public gallery following continued verbal criticism from library campaigners and supporters..
 
Cllr Hollands, withdrawing a Labour recommendation to ask the cabinet to give the library funding beyond two years and which he had initially agreed to support, announced: “The gallery has caused that. “The recommendation has been lost.”
He then announced: “The meeting is closed.” No vote of any sort had been taken.
 
Earlier in the meeting Cllr Hollands had declared of the library funding, somewhat bizarrely, “It’s a grant made by Croydon to an outside body. “In my view how much it costs to run Selsdon library, how much it costs to run Norbury library doesn’t come into it.”
 
Croydon council deputy leader Cllr Tim Pollard, who addressed the cabinet meeting where the decision to give the library just £75,000 was taken, said each of Croydon’s branch libraries operated on half the number of staff Upper Norwood had.
 
“No-one has said let’s start from the bottom up.  “What matters is to do it top down . “That’s what we sought to do and how we arrived at the figure we did.”
 
Members of the public arriving at the meeting were given written submissions from the Upper Norwood Library Campaign, Crystal Palace Community Association and from the Mayor of Lambeth Cllr Steve Reed.
Cllr Read, in a letter dated yesterday (5th) said: “Lambeth notes that Croydon council’s decision comes after a series of previous attempts to cut funding while trying to avoid the public blame for doing so.
“We dispute Croydon’s claim that they were forced to pull out of the joint agreement because of alleged breaches by Lambeth and believe they made this claim simply to cover up their decision to cut funding.
“Labour maintains that the joint agreement was in fact breached by Croydon when they refused to appoint local ward councillors to the joint committee.
“We did not threaten to cut our funding in response – we merely asked that Croydon constitute the committee properly so that its work could continue.” The letter was co-signed by Cllr Sally Prentice, Lambeth’s cabinet member for culture.
  • Campaigners were left shell-shocked in the wake of last night’s meeting and have probably woken up this morning (Saturday) wondering if it was all just a horrible dream. The bad news is: It wasn’t. There were a wealth of issues to come out of last night’s meeting . It’s 10.12 Saturday am so I haven’t had a chance to re-examine many of them, among which is the Conservative argument about how the council adds overheads to their branch libraries.(Although I wear glasses, I don’t write for the Daily Planet and my name ain’t Clark Kent.) Among those in the public gallery last night was one lady member of the library staff. How she felt during (and after) the meeting I can barely begin to imagine. Last night may have felt like the end. This morning it could just be the beginning. For a start there’s a by-election pending in Croydon North. As far as Upper Norwood folk are concerned the Conservative Parliamentary candidate won’t just be picking up the proverbial poison chalice. They will be picking up a chalice which is totally toxic…….
 

CROYDON’S £112,000 LIBRARY FUNDING CUT ‘FLAWED AND UNSUSTAINABLE’ SAY CAMPAIGNERS

4 Oct
 A DECISION by Croydon council’s Conservatives to give Upper Norwood joint library just £75,000 next year is “flawed and unsustainable” say library campaigners.
 
The massive reduction in funding of £112,000 is “hugely greater” than that being imposed on other libraries in either Croydon or Lambeth and “appears likely to lead to a halving in the number of library staff, with serious implications for the level and quality of the library service” say Upper Norwood Library Campaign..
 
They say Croydon’s decision is:
1. FLAWED because it compares Upper Norwood joint library with Croydon branch libraries without taking any account of the value of central services provided to Croydon branch libraries which would have to be met separately by an independent Upper Norwood library.
(Croydon council have a call centre which deals with enquiries for all their branch libraries. Library campaigners and supporters have struggled unsuccessfully for years to ensure that any comparison being made between UNJL and branch libraries in  Croydon takes into account these – and other - hidden centralised costs )
 
2. UNSUSTAINABLE because the paper presented to Croydon council’s cabinet committee arrives at a Croydon contribution on the basis of the formula ‘cap (£245,000) minus contribution recently decided by Lambeth Council (£170,000)’.
 
“To make Croydon’s contribution wholly dependent on another council’s decision is to invite future ‘see-sawing’ and instability, and does not provide a sustainable funding formula for the Library going forward.”
 
The Campaign’s statement comes before Friday night’s meeting of Croydon council’s scrutiny and overview committee which will look at the cabinet decision on funding after it was ‘called in’ by Labour councillors. (See story dated September 27th )
 
Croydon’s cut from about £187,000 in the current year to £75,000 in the year beginning in April 2013 compares with a Lambeth council cut of £41,000.  
 
In their strongly-worded statement UNLC says It should be clear to the scrutiny committee the £75,000 proposal jeopardises the very existence and sustainability of any future library trust, is not only discriminatory and iniquitous but will also ensure the library’s governance remains a political minefield.
 
“Surely all parties must realise that it is in no one’s interest for the library to be a perpetual political football.
 
“It is not unreasonable for Croydon’s Upper Norwood residents who make up the largest element of the library’s membership, to expect an equal share of the library funding budget as their compatriots elsewhere in Croydon – or indeed for Croydon community tax payers in Upper Norwood to feel disgruntled at the unfairness that their Lambeth neighbours not only pay less in community tax than them but also receive significantly more library funding in return.”
 
Welcoming Croydon’s recognition that Croydon residents want their library provision to be provided by the Upper Norwood Joint Library and that the council accept the recent consultation findings that residents would not use alternative Croydon provision elsewhere in the borough, the UNLC (Upper Norwood Library Campaign) says it ”also looks forward to working closely with Croydon to explore a publicly funded community trust which could provide an exciting new era for our much loved library.”
 
The UNLC says a logical and sustainable service-based funding formula should be developed for an independent Upper Norwood library.
 
“This is likely to include establishing a notional catchment area for the library and deriving a library services cost per head or household that is fair and reasonable in relation to other parts of Croydon. “We are ready to work with Croydon to develop such a fair and sustainable funding formula.”
 
Friday night’s scrutiny committee meeting will be chaired by Cllr Steve Hollands – a former library joint committee chairman and a fact not lost upon Crystal Palace Community Association chairman John Payne.
 
Mr Payne told Monday night’s meeting of UNIT (Upper Norwood Improvement Team) that it was Mr Hollands who had chaired the UNL joint committee meeting. where he ‘signed off’ the minutes of the committee’s previous meeting which recorded the decision to allow local councillors to sit on the library committee.
 
“The very thing that is now creating all the problems” he told UNIT’s meeting at the Phoenix Centre, Westow Street.
 
UNLC chairman Mark Richardson told the UNIT meeting: “For some reason we’ve got Croydon rattled. “It’s about the fastest – ever scutiny committee meeting they have arranged.” 
  • The council’s constitution states that at Friday’s meeting, the referral (call in) will be considered by the committee which shall determine how much time it will give to the call-in and how the item will be dealt with including whether or not it wishes to review the decision.
  • If having considered the decision there are still concerns about the decision then the committee may refer it back to the cabinet for reconsideration, setting out in writing the nature of the concerns. The cabinet shall then reconsider the decision, amending the decision or not, before making a final decision.
  • The scrutiny and strategic overview committee may refer the decision to the council if it considers that the decision taken by the leader or cabinet is outside the budget and policy framework of the council.
  • The council may decide to take no further action in which case the decision may be implemented. If the council objects to cabinet’s decision it can nullify the decision if it is outside the policy framework and/or inconsistent with the budget.If the scrutiny and strategic overview committee decides that no further action is necessary then the decision may be implemented.
  • If the council determines that the decision was within the policy framework and consistent with the budget, it will refer any decision to which it objects, together with its views on the decision, to the cabinet. The cabinet shall choose whether to either, amend, withdraw or implement the original decision within 10 working days, or at the next meeting of the cabinet after the referral from the council.

CABINET DECISION UNDER SCRUTINY – ‘GIVE LIBRARY £175,000 CALL’ TO CROYDON

27 Sep
 
CALLS FOR Croydon council to give the same amount to Upper Norwood joint library next year – £170,000 – as Lambeth council are to come under scrutiny next week.
 
A specially arranged meeting of Croydon’s scrutiny and strategic overview committee on Friday October 5th will consider a whole range of requests from Labour councillors after they ‘called in’ last week’s cabinet committee decision to give the library just £75,000 in the next council financial year starting April 1st – and have the library run by a community trust from the same date.
 
Labour are also calling for:  
  • a funding agreement be put in place that is longer than two years (with annual review), in order to provide certainty for a community trust
  • further funding (in excess of £2,500) to be made available for supporting and developing community potential to deliver the service
  • for the timetable to be extended or that the council works in partnership to form a suitable group of local residents and staff.
 Labour are also asking to see the budget breakdown for ALL Croydon libraries including central overheads“to enable a fair comparison to be made with Upper Norwood library”.
 
The ‘call-in’ states that the cabinet’s decision : was taken on the basis of a partial paper that did not make fair comparison of running costs between libraries, including central running costs; and;
did not take into account the wide range of services provided by Upper Norwood library, including the important archive and local studies service.
It also states that the timetable and arrangements for transfer to a community trust are not sufficiently detailed and may result in a weak process.
The ‘call in’ also says the cabinet decision did not take into account the views of Lambeth council in co-funders of the library; was taken without considering the available budget in 2012/13; will degrade the service to Croydon residents in the Norwood area;
is inconsistent with the administrations 2010 election pledge to fund the Upper Norwood library to the same level as Lambeth council; that the cabinet did not take sufficient account of the public consultation that clearly indicated a significant requirement for a library in Upper Norwood and that the consultation was “flawed and confusing.”
The meeting on Friday October 5th at Croydon town hall starts at 6.30pm.
 

“SEVEN MONTHS ENOUGH TIME FOR COMMUNITY GROUP TO TAKE OVER LIBRARY”

20 Sep
 
JUST SEVEN MONTHS should be enough time in which to get Upper Norwood joint library taken over by a community group, says Croydon council’s joint deputy leader Tim Pollard.
 
His comment came as Croydon council’s cabinet committee nodded through a set of proposals for the library at its meeting on Monday.
 
“It’s not generous – but it’s doable. “It’s a realistic time scale we can all work to” he said.
  
“What I would envisage would be the provision of a long lease. “That’s not in Croydon’s gift alone” he said – adding further weight to the increasing suspicion that Croydon’s Tories just haven’t thought this through.
 
(The report before the committee admitted that “The cost of redundancies for the full staff group would be in the region of £100,000 plus and in this circumstance, it is unlikely that support to share the cost would be given by Lambeth”)
 
Cllr Timothy Godfrey, Labour’s shadow spokesman on libraries, asked Cllr Pollard why he thought it acceptable to rely on Lambeth council to subsidise Croydon users of the service – Lambeth’s £170,000 versus Croydon’s £75,000.
 
Congratulating the cabinet for conducting “the most pointless survey with the most obvious results since the last consultation that proposed closing half the library network”  Cllr Godfrey asked how the cabinet could explain why it continued to mislead the public over the library budget and the accusation of Upper Norwood being inefficient?
 
The report talked about a ‘slightly reduced service level’ by funding at £75,000 a year and made comparisons with previous years but did not reference the actual budget book figure -  the total budget approved for 2012/13 including all cultural services – of £8.858 million.
 
“How can the cabinet make a decision without the full financial breakdown before it?” he asked.
 
Cllr John Wentworth (Lab Upper Norwood) welcoming the long term commitment to UNJL asked: “What evidence is there they could get this effectively done within seven months? “Its a bit of a tall order.  ”If you’re totally committed to having a community library in Upper Norwood I don’t think £75,000 would be sufficient.”
 
Cllr Pollard, referring to UNJL “and its apparent efficiency / inefficiency” said branch libraries in Croydon were run with half the number of staff at Upper Norwood. The unique way that UNJL was run had not gone through the same process as other libraries in London.
 
“Why doesn’t UNJL recognise it’s a branch library?” asked Cllr Pollard. ”It’s broadly the same basket of services operated by our branch libraries – excluding Croydon central library. “Thornton Heath is very similar in terms of what it should be set up like.”
  
In his opening comments Cllr Pollard told the meeting: “The consultation report contains nothing that will surprise you – a great deal of people are very committed to having a library provision in Upper Norwood and want that taken forward by whatever means.
 
“In the light of that and a decision taken by Lambeth council the way forward was for a community group to run it. 
  
Responding to Cllr Godfrey’s question as to why should Lambeth fund the library Cllr Pollard said Lambeth had made their announcement back in the summer. “It was far more sensible for us to look at it the other way round.”
 
In political point-scoring Labour opposition leader Cllr Tony Newman said an incoming Labour administration in 2014 would take the future of UNJL forward fairly and equally funded “and end these shenanigans once and for all.”
 
Responding to a Labour pledge about potential match funding the library with Lambeth Cllr Pollard said: “To say ‘we’ll do whatever they do’ is astounding – and it’s why Labour should never be given control in this town again.”
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