Have your say on new library service scheme
NEW plans for Gloucestershire's library service are going out for public discussion next month.
The county council is launching a fresh consultation after previous proposals were quashed by a judge last month.
Gloucestershire County Council will be speaking to parish and town councils, community groups and library users to get feedback on the draft plans.
Councillors and council officers have started working with the Equality and Human Rights Commission after the success of the judicial appeal, which was backed by the Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries.
But the authority has declined to meet with the pressure group at the moment.
Members of the authority's cabinet will meet to confirm the details of the draft library plans on January 20. If they agree, a public consultation to gather feedback on the proposals will start soon after.
Exact dates and details will be publicised closer to the time, but the consultation is expected to last six weeks.
11 Comments
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by Kay_Powell
Tuesday, December 13 2011, 4:48PM
“Wally37,
The councillors have refused to attend the meeting. We actually wanted them to come to the meeting, with or without some proposals. The trouble is that once their proposals are formally announced, they will be virtually set in stone. Library campaigners will then be in the position of having to argue against the proposals, rather than helping to form them.”
by Wally37
Tuesday, December 13 2011, 9:23AM
“We pay are councillors to run our services, therefore it is perfectly normal in the real world for our councillors to bring to the meeting their proposals. After all they have a budget to meet.”
by Kay_Powell
Monday, December 12 2011, 4:43PM
“ablokehere,
I didn't say that FoGL isn't a pressure group, simply that the meeting is an open meeting with a neutral chair, and held at a neutral location. Unfortunately, Cllr. Hawthorne has decided yet again to draw up plans for the library service and THEN consult the users. It is a top-down form of government that is designed to give the politicians what they want, as opposed to a bottom-up form of government that is designed to give the service users what they want.”
by L_escalier
Monday, December 12 2011, 11:06AM
“For some reason, I had it in my head that the meeting was today, not Wednesday.
Now I'm worried that I'm overlooking a completely different meeting this evening...”
by L_escalier
Sunday, December 11 2011, 2:41AM
“This is what Jeremy Hilton says on the Gloucestershire Liberal Democrats' Facebook page about me wanting to know what happened to our mobile library:
'Goloucester's main library is just a mile from your home and there is a very good bus service to get you there.'
Actually, there isn't a very good bus service in Tredworth, even if one is healthy or wealthy enough to avail themselves...”
by Library_User
Saturday, December 10 2011, 4:21PM
“Why are the County Council drawing up their proposals to revise the library service BEFORE consulting the public and talking to library users? Yet again the process appears badly rushed. GCC look set to make all the same mistakes all over again.”
by ablokehere
Saturday, December 10 2011, 3:18PM
“Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries are a pressure group”
by Kay_Powell
Saturday, December 10 2011, 1:21PM
“If the county council has only just started to work with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, this means that they didn't bother contacting the commission before, when it was pointed out that their previous plans contravened equality legislation.”
by Kay_Powell
Saturday, December 10 2011, 1:19PM
“How sad that the county council has dismissed next Wednesday's open meeting as a meeting with a pressure group. It has been made absolutely clear that the meeting will have a neutral Chair and that anyone is welcome to attend. There won't be anyone there from the county council, so the results will have to be passed onto them.”
by billy25
Saturday, December 10 2011, 10:55AM
“http://tinyurl.com/cwe2zw2”