Date confirmed for Bucks Council's cost-cutting library scheme with jobs at risk

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Looming budget cuts to county library services are ‘disappointing’ and ‘severe’, a parish council has said.

From June, staffed hours at eight libraries will be slashed and up to 15 staff potentially laid off under a plan called ‘Library Flex’, which will save Buckinghamshire Council £555,000 a year.

Although there will be fewer library staff, overall opening hours will actually increase under the new system as the council fits sites with new ‘self-service’ technology for borrowing books and other services.

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The new model was approved last month and is being adopted at the county libraries in Amersham, Aylesbury, Beaconsfield, Buckingham, Chesham, Hazlemere, Marlow and Princes Risborough.

Photo used for illustrative purposes (Photo by NICOLAS GUYONNET/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)Photo used for illustrative purposes (Photo by NICOLAS GUYONNET/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo used for illustrative purposes (Photo by NICOLAS GUYONNET/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

The other two county libraries in High Wycombe and Burnham will not adopt Library Flex due to their ‘unsuitable layouts and security concerns’, although there will still be changes to both sites.

The layout of Wycombe’s library will be modified, and it will open on a Monday instead of a Sunday ‘to better meet customer needs’, albeit with no change in the overall number of opening hours.

In Burnham however, the library’s opening hours will be slashed from 38 to 27 – a 28 per cent reduction – after a failure to recruit enough volunteers to enable the library to stay open longer.

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Bucks Council has said the reduced opening hours bring Burnham in line with the proposals for similar sized county libraries.

However, Burnham Parish Council has reacted angrily to the 11-hour reduction in its opening hours and has written to Bucks Council to express ‘its strong objection and deep disappointment at the severe cuts’.

Chair of the parish council, Councillor Marie Hammon, said: “We, along with Friends of Burnham Library, submitted a strong response to the consultation, although at the time it felt that this proposal was already very much a ‘done deal’.”

She said the ‘little time’ given to discuss the impact on Burnham Library added to the impression it is a ‘forgotten part’ of the county.

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Burnham Library will be open from 10am-5pm Tuesday to Thursday, 10am-1pm on Fridays and Saturdays and will be closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Cllr Hammon said: “We’re particularly disappointed that many of the hours being cut are at the few times when the library can be accessed by adults who work full time – such as Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons.”

The parish council said it was ‘seeking an urgent review of the decision’ and a guarantee there will be ‘no further cuts’ to the library’s opening hours for at least five years.

It added that it would continue to work with the Friends of Burnham Library, and Bucks Council library officers to try and find options for increased volunteer opening at the library.

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Clive Harriss, Bucks Council’s cabinet member for culture and leisure, said the Burnham Library cuts were taken ‘as a last resort’ after ‘extensive efforts to recruit new volunteers’ failed.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Savings must be made and so the only option left has been to reduce opening hours in this way.”

Councillor Harriss said Bucks Council would continue to work with Friends of Burnham Library to try and find more volunteers and that if ‘sufficient numbers’ could be found, the reduction in opening hours could be reversed and brought back to current levels.

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