WE NOTE
Lewisham Council chose to cut £450,000 from the libraries annual budget. All options for how they’d do this were rejected for proposing to hit vulnerable people hardest. Council then took planning back out of the public eye as it began a feasibility study into regenerating Lewisham Library site. Meanwhile the cut is on schedule starting April 2019.
10% of us don’t have internet access at home yet essential services are only accessible online. So the library is needed for Universal Credit claims and jobhunting, rent payments, banking, booking travel and communication with loved ones. Many vulnerable users need assistance from library staff to for these tasks. And to fulfil the promise of a sanctuary borough, the council must consider that EU Settlement, Visa, Permanent Residence and Asylum applicants need them too. Quiet study spaces and resources are only found in libraries for many working class families.
WE BELIEVE
We believe in our statutory and human right to a fully staffed, safe, fair library service – a good collection with trained staff to curate, to guide and to help us to learn, to research and reflect, to create, to connect with others and to succeed in an increasingly difficult world. This serves many serious needs efficiently and is deserving of investment.
A cut this big means discriminating against the disadvantaged of Lewisham. The cost to the wellbeing of the borough of cutting this service could be very high but remains unassessed by council. Similarly the long term effect on crime, social services, public health, all problems expensive to the council budget, isn’t estimated.
Lewisham needs its libraries more than ever to meet the pressure of serving communities hit by austerity. Right now the service sits at breaking point.
WE RESOLVE
1. Demand of council that they immediately publish the brief and financial targets given to consultants for the Lewisham Central site feasibility study.
2. Demand council immediately audit & assess the community libraries.
3. Demand of council that they consult campaigners, the Library workers union and friends of libraries/user groups in the feasibility study now.
4. Demand the service budget be ringfenced, on the grounds that there is no way to make cuts now and still fulfil the statutory duty.
5. Ask that, for the next couple of these meetings, councillors should report back on the progress of efforts to this end.
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