Library hours reduction approved

Wednesday, 2 October 2024 19:21

By Chris Young, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to cut opening times at Ilkley and 9 other libraries across the Bradford District have been approved by Council bosses.

Bradford Council had proposed cuts to opening times at 10 libraries in a bid to save £175,000 a year from its budget.

Keighley, City, Ilkley, Bingley, Shipley, Manningham, Eccleshill, Laisterdyke, Wibsey and Wyke all faced reduced hours, and earlier this Summer a consultation was held asking the public how these cuts should be made.

There were two options – that each library would close for an hour over lunch each day they opened, or that there would be a half day opening once a week.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Executive on Tuesday members voted for the option that will see half day openings, rather than lunchtime closures.

The changes will come into effect in April 2025 – as Bradford celebrates its City of Culture year.

Members heard that the majority of the 1,650 people who responded to the survey said they would prefer half day openings one day a week rather than lunch time closures every day of the week – which a number of consultees said would be confusing.

The biggest response came from users of Ilkley library – with 484 people commenting on the town library’s opening hours.

The library that generated the fewest responses was Laisterdyke, with just 46 people having their say on that facility’s future.

While some of the library users who responded acknowledged that much of the service would remain in place, others lamented any reduction to library times.

One said:

“Cutting a statutory service in a city with a young, disadvantaged population for a relatively small cost saving is a very poor idea.”
Another said: “The library shouldn’t be seen as an expense, but as an investment in community wellbeing.”

At the meeting Jo Hinchliffe, Assistant Director for Culture, Sport & Leisure summarised the findings of the consultation for members, saying: “The public felt option two was preferable.

“In total there will be an 11 per cent reduction in library opening hours. The aim is to make sure we are protecting the service as much as possible.”
Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Executive for Healthy People and Places, said: “We have to give a big thank you to all the people who took part in this consultation – it has been very important.

“We’ve taken quite a lot of learning from the feedback.

“The main thing is we keep a library service that is accessible for our community.”

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