Three city libraries to be run by volunteers

Three libraries in Nottingham that were earmarked for closure now look set to be run by volunteers.

The Basford, Bilborough and Aspley libraries will remain open under the new plans, and the buildings will still be owned by the city council.

The Radford-Lenton library - which was also set to shut - will continue to be run directly by the authority.

The Labour-run council says the plans will allow it to "continue to provide a high quality and sustainable library service" and will save £1.5m.

More than 5,000 people responded to a public consultation on the previous proposals.

Deputy council leader Ethan Radford said working with the voluntary sector would allow improvements as well as keeping the buildings open.

"We will be able have these organisations take on the running and management of these buildings, be able to access funding we can't access, to repair them, maintain them, improve them, to, if anything, broaden the services available," he said.

It has not been confirmed, however, precisely which organisations will take on the three volunteer-run libraries.

Radford said he was "very hopeful" negotiations would conclude soon.

Asked what would happen if the negotiations do not end with agreements, he said the libraries would still close.

He also said that, under the new plans, there would be an "adjustment" to opening hours at all of the city's libraries.

"The last proposal when we were looking at closing all four was a flat reduction," he said.

"We're [now] looking at a more equitable reduction in hours in response to consultation feedback."

Des Conway, from the Save Nottingham Libraries campaign, said he was "disappointed" at the decision to outsource libraries to the voluntary sector, and keeping the buildings open was "the lesser of two evils".

"We understand obviously the council has got huge financial problems but our view was they should seek emergency funding from central government right from the get-go," he said.

The decision was also met with an angry reaction from some Labour councillors.

The BBC understands a motion to keep all four libraries in-house was rejected at a meeting of the Nottingham Labour group on Thursday.

As a result, more than a dozen councillors are understood to have walked out of the meeting.

Asked about the meeting, Radford said: "Libraries are a very emotive issue for people.

"I think fundamentally we have to think about the effect on our residents. Will the doors still be open for residents to go in and access their libraries? If this plan goes ahead, yes they will be."

The new strategy covers the next five years, after which Radford said the council could potentially bring the volunteer-run libraries back in-house if the authority's financial situation had improved.

The plans are due to be discussed at a meeting of the council's Executive Board on Tuesday.

By Hugh Casswell, political reporter, BBC Nottingham

Don't be fooled - this is not just a story about three or four libraries.

It's about a local Labour group which appears increasingly fractious.

There is still some anger and resentment at the manner in which Neghat Khan was chosen as leader last year.

But from what I've heard, Thursday's group meeting - which took place behind closed doors - was one of the most ill-tempered to date.

Could the library plans be the catalyst for more drastic action, as has been seen in nearby Broxtowe?

I'm told the situation isn't quite that extreme... yet.

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