Need for more transparency by Croydon Council Part 2 – Carillion and the
Library Service
http://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/need-for-more-transparency-by-croydon_11.html

The point I was trying to make here though is that the service has deteriorated drastically, even before Laing, then Carillion, took over.

This occurred as communities were divided, left with a consultation that sought to divide communities further by asking that respondents chose which of six libraries to save or close.

Bear in mind that those who responded came up with all sorts of ideas, ideas that were just ignored by Cllr Bashford and co. Whole swathes of the community were not consulted at all, yet all now have to live with the consequences of outsourcing library services to a firm better known for construction, roads, and their dire reputation as an employer.

How did this happen? Because the council sought to divide communities? That’s why campaigners and library users came together to form Save Croydon Libraries Campaign, but there are some who seek to work alone. The Council and now Carillion must love it.

Nobury can hold a meeting, as can Bradmore Green and Sanderstead, but these meetings will achieve little and have little impact unless we pool resources and information and refuse to be fobbed off.

The situation in Croydon beggars belief. What seems patently obvious to most is that Carillion will have loved the opportunity to claim to have increased their community engagement through this meeting. It seems there is a core in Norbury who are not interested in engaging with the rest of the borough, yet Save Croydon Libraries Campaign is in touch with Norbury residents who are not being represented locally.

I did give you comment on your article Sean before it went to print and we accept. I hope, that we do not see eye to eye on many points, but you, like I, very much value libraries and what they provide for all sections of the community.

You’ve been a great supporter of Croydon Communities Consortium (CCC) Sean. The meeting on Rubbish – the term I prefer, as opposed to the Rubbish meeting – brought a lot of positive feedback and greater understanding of the issues of fly-tipping, refuse and recycling blighting the lives and environments across the borough of Croydon. It offered a platform to share information, highlight issues and give feedback. It also dealt with several issues, such as clarifying foot access to the centre in Factory Lane, which residents had been struggling with for some time, highlighting the existence of schemes such as Freecycle and Freegle, the need for trade waste agreements and so on.

If you’d like to propose a meeting on Libraries after the local elections, and there is sufficient interest, then that’s exactly what CCC will be happy to do. I’d certainly be all for it.

Incidentally, I love “modelled on the Consortium’s excellent meeting on rubbish”. Brings all sorts of images to mind! Best wishes to you both. S

It’s a little late to raise questions of Carillion on issues that residents and library users have been voicing concerns about now for years. There is no will to improve library services.

Library hours have been cut, including evening opening hours. You now can’t even get through to a library, even if it is open, after 5pm.

The outreach work with schools was lost long ago as staff had to scale back activities when so many jobs were lost. They did not even have sufficient resources to liaise with schools re book stock let alone go into schools to promote libraries, Summer Reading Challenge and so on. We went through a period where staffing was so thin that the absence of just one library assistant meant that a library could not open.

Libraries have always been access points for information. The fact is though that it is harder now to get community information into our libraries as staff change and JLIS and now Carillion put in new structures and procedures, made staff redundant and reshuffled staff so they do not know the community they serve – knowing the community being a point key to delivering services to meet needs, now lost by the actions of Carillion.

Carillion are not advertising libraries and have no desire to do so. Most residents are completely unaware of the Reading Activists activities being run, using funding from the The Reading Agency, for example, meaning low numbers accessing this valuable scheme aimed at youth 11-19 years. But the funding is still taken and continues to be taken.

And a giant like Carillion is running library services for love, not money? They derive no financial benefit. Just like the shiny new council offices that Laings built at nil cost, I suppose. Lucky us!