Thread by @CharlotteGRose

Protest is taking place outside @Essex_CC ahead of special mtg about future of library services in the county. Mtg starts at 10am.

Protesters oppose any library closures & say they want to turn them into community hubs.

The Special Meeting on the future of library services in #Essex has begun @Essex_CC.

We start with 30mins of public Qs, each person has 3mins to ask a Q.

Ros Scott from #Wivenhoe asked a Q about whether the council has done an equality impact assessment of the impact of library closures on women? She says twice as many women use tier 4 libraries (which are set to close) compared to men.

Cabinet Member in charge of libraries Sue Barker said the libraries plan is a draft strategy and no final decision will be made until all 21K responses to the online consultation have been analysed.

Ms Turner from Manningtree asked what the council had done to engage with core groups, in particular those with learning disabilities.

Sue Barker says ECC contacted everyone with a library card, who had used it in past 12 months to tell them about consultation. There were notices in each library as well as high profile coverage on @BBCEssex & local newspapers. She adds social media posts reached 300K people

Mrs Mawer from #Thaxted asked why libraries weren’t part of the council’s vision for the future of the arts in Essex?

Sue Barker says ECC will continue to support Essex Book Festival & a series of other workshops & events which happen in libraries.

Cllr Caton from Stansted Mountfitchet asked v specific Q re: funding for new Community Hub. 👇

Sue Barker says @Essex_CC has offered a 1yr lease and to take on all the costs of moving the library to a new site. But she adds ECC cannot make a long term commitment until a decision is made on future library strategy.

Public Qs are over, we’re moving to main debate. @Ivan4Harwich questions Chairman John Jowers over whether the amendment which has been submitted by @essexcons is in order, since it changes the meaning of the main motion.

JJ says he’s checked and it’s not a “wrecking amendment”

Here’s the main motion being debated today. To be clear, the outcome of today’s debate will not decide the future of any library.

Opposition Cllrs are using it as an opportunity to show strength of feeling about libraries:

Here’s the amendment to the motion from @essexcons

Lib Dem leader Mike Macrory opens debate saying that this type of mtg is rare, but when 57k people in #Essex sign a petition then a response is needed.

He adds that if you reduce library opening hours & staff & cut book budgets then it’s no surprise if usage falls...

Mike Macrory tells chamber: “you can’t slash the budget from £21m in 2011 to £11.3m in 2018 and expect it to have no impact”.

Describes threatened closures as “an act of cultural vandalism on a grand scale”

He appeals to Conservative backbenchers to disobey party whip.

.@Essex_CC Leader David Finch says the status quo can’t remain.
- Book loans down by 52% in past 10yrs
- use of computers down
- fewer than 1 in 5 people in Essex is an active library user.
- Demand for e-books has trebled
- 85% of adults in uk have a smart phone & use e-readers

Mark Durham who’s the Deputy for the Cabinet Member in charge of libraries says the motion is “a blatant attempt to garner votes in the upcoming elections”

He further describes protests as “silly book raids”.

Adds that despite all the protests footfall is down & loans down 30%.

.@LScordis says ECC is “most arrogant council in country”.

Says the council has heard Qs from former librarians, doctors, academics, teachers, but the council still believes it knows better. “This administration is reckless”

For anyone trying to watch the debate online: Chsirmsn John Jowers says ECC is aware the link is broken and are trying to fix it, but essentially there’s high deman and it has crashed 🤯

Sue Barker,Cabinet Member in charge of these proposals says “30 years ago today the World Wide Web was invented - and with it, life has changed”

10 yrs ago you collected your take away and DVDs yourself. Now there’s an app to order food & have it delivered & people download DVDs

Sue Barker says that life has changed and library use has changed, so we need a service that meets the needs of modern life.

She adds the trend isn’t reversing. Between April 18 & Feb 19 book loans down 3%

.@Ivan4Harwich makes a passionate plea “if you think these Cllrs (the administration) are listening to you, you’re kidding yourself. He adds they are “in contempt of the public”.

Cllr Sheldon (Benfleet) says he’s the youngest parent in the room and he frequently takes his kids to the library.

He says there’s been good suggestions from public abt how to improve current service & they should be listened to.

He says reasons for mtg are “purely political”

.@sj_robinson criticises cuts in library resources over time. “If you take product away, of course customers go away”.

He takes issue with wording of Conservative amendment. Says the consultation is clear that the proposal is to close libraries-but amdt doesn’t acknowledge this

Another Lib Dem, David Kendall says the recent consultation was “a complete sham from start to finish”.

He says people in Shenfield and Ingatestone are passionate about keeping libraries open or at least moving from tier 3 to tier 2 libraries.

.@LouiseMcKinlay says library use is falling despite population growth in the county

Adds that in #Brentwood, where she’s Leader, some libraries could be offered new sites which are more fit for purpose

Says any decisions made abt future service must be based on evidence & data

Green Cllr @JamesAbbott2013 says the administration has misjudged the public mood on this issue.

He adds that people are fed up of austerity and cuts, and the 57K petition signatures show the strength of feeling on the issue.

Independent Cllr Graham Pond says the administration has got this wrong. “The consultation document says Tier 4 libraries will close. So the decision is already taken, therefore the consultation was a sham, a counterfeit, bogus”.

“In the words of Margaret Thatcher; No, No, No”

Independent Cllr Kerry Smith says he’s speaking for Vange library in Basildon. “Vange has already lost 2 community centres & a pub-if the library closes, where will people meet?”

*He holds up some notes*. Here’s £50 and I bet you that if you get your way, that library will shut”

Passionate speech from @SueatPrettygate who resigned as an ECC Cabinet Member over closure of Prettygate library. Says she’ll do anything to keep the library open including voting w/ opposition to make her point.

But @SueatPrettygate says after emails urging her to vote with opposition, she responded, & then received abuse. Says she found many who contacted her weren’t from her ward or even Colchester, but just spoiling for a political fight. So she now says she’ll vote with @essexcons

.@CllrKBentley says he’s s huge believer in devolving power & responsibility to districts & public, says he’s done it in his highways portfolio and same should apply to libraries.

“The future is in this amendment; failure to back it will fail the public”

.@Cllr_J_Young wraps up the debate: “The library card is a passport to wonders and miracles-it is this passport which opens our minds and our hearts beyond our own front doors”. I urge people to back the motion.

Cllrs have voted on the amendment put forward by @essexcons - it has been passed with 54 votes for, 19 against and 2 abstentions-this now becomes the main motion.

The main motion has been passed with the amendments (see 👇).
For 50
Against 19
Abstention 2

If you're interested in hearing more about today's extraordinary mtg on #Libraries then tune into @BBCEssex at 4.30pm.

We've got an interview with Cllr Sue Barker, the cabinet member in charge of libraries, and @IanPuckey will be speaking to a former Essex librarian.