FIVE libraries in West Somerset are facing an uncertain future and three are safe, in sweeping recommendations unveiled on Tuesday by Somerset County Council for the county’s library service.
In moves that would see a proposed cost reduction of £345,000 for the council, changes for 15 libraries are recommended, including Bishops Lydeard, Nether Stowey, Porlock, Watchet and Wiveliscombe.
Local communities there have until mid-November to respond to an invitation for expressions of interest in forming a Community Library Partnership (CLP), where communities support library buildings in partnership with the county council.
If not, alternative library services such as mobile van library stops would be implemented, and library buildings could start to close from early 2019, the council said.
However, Friends of Somerset Libraries said that, if partnership agreements could not be established, it did not accept substitute outreach and/or mobile services would necessarily provide the comprehensive and efficient statutory service required, and they “may be legally challengeable”.
And a member of the Friends of Wiveliscombe Library said: “As a community, and a country, we are ’volunteered out’ – how much more do they expect the community to do for themselves? They are taking the heart out of our town.”
Library buildings and services in Dulverton, Minehead and Williton will remain unchanged.
The recommendations follow on from a 19-week library service redesign consultation, in which 7,000 people and organisations took part. Across the county, the recommendations are that 19 existing library buildings are retained by the council, with Community Library Partnerships sought for 15 others.
Full report in today’s Free Press (October 19)