ANOTHER library in Hull could close as part of a new £320,000 programme of budget savings. If given the go-ahead, the branch library in Hull City Council's Holderness Road customer services centre could shut.
Subject to a public consultation expected to take place later this year, the proposals are due to be implemented in 2015-16 and will happen just months before Hull takes centre stage as the UK City of Culture 2017.
Today, Councillor Abi Bell, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group at the Guildhall, described the latest cuts facing the council's library service as "shocking".
She said the council's ruling Labour administration had got its priorities wrong by putting forward more plans to shut another library.
But Councillor Terry Geraghty, the cabinet portfolio for culture and leisure, accused the Lib Dems of hypocrisy.
He said: "The Lib Dems don't appear to realise they are part of a Government which is forcing councils like ourselves to make these kind of decisions by slashing funding left, right and centre.
"They need to wake up and smell the coffee."
The £320,000 package of savings being proposed for next year follows a £95,000 cut in this year's library service budget which was approved in February. That included a reduction in the number of librarians and the withdrawal of the city's mobile library service, which is due to take place later this summer.
The new planned savings include:
A further reduction in the number of librarians and managers.
A 28 per cent cut in opening times at all sites apart from the Central Library in Albion Street.
A new review of the library network, with the Holderness Road branch identified as the most likely to close or be relocated.
Taking on more volunteers to deliver services to housebound residents.
The suggested reduction in opening times would see larger branch libraries open for 21 hours per week, while smaller sites would open for 17 hours a week.
Last year, cuts to the library budget saw the withdrawal of council funding support for the library at the KC Stadium and the branch library at Anlaby Park.
A community-led takeover at Anlaby Park is currently being negotiated with the council.
The proposals for 2015-16 are included in a new draft five-year library strategy being presented to the council's cabinet next week and scrutiny councillors tomorrow.
It says: "The proposed changes to the library service are made in the context that by 2018 Hull City Council will have been required to cut its budget by £100m due to a reduction in funding by central Government.
"This means the council has to make some very difficult decisions regarding the services it provides.
"The proposals in this report aim to prevent wholesale library closures, ensuring people have access to vital services ."
If given the go-ahead, the new stripped-back library service is expected to come under the wing of a new council-owned leisure company likely to come into operation next year.
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