Mobile Library Consultation
Under budget proposals put forward by this administration, Brighton & Hove will be keeping all the existing 14 lending libraries open. At least five of them will be open on every day of the week.
However, all local authorities are having their grants from central government greatly reduced – Brighton & Hove will be losing a third of its funding over the next four years. As a result, councils are having to make tough decisions on all services in order to balance their books.
At the end of last year, the administration published its budget proposals and is now seeking views before firming them up.
One of the possible savings that has been identified is ceasing to provide a mobile library service in the city.
The mobile library vehicle is now reaching the end of its natural life and would cost at least £120,000 to replace, while the current running costs of £77,000 annually have increased significantly.
However, the most telling factor in determining whether we can continue to justify a mobile library is the analysis of recent usage figures. These show that nearly 70% of the city’s 865 mobile library users already use a static library.
We are proposing to stop operating the current mobile library service from 1 April 2012, but we genuinely want to get your views to make sure you agree with that decision in the light of the background information. We also want hear from you to ensure that your library service needs are still met and what alternative provision might best suit your needs.
We will work hard to ensure no-one is disadvantaged by this proposal. This will include developing our housebound library delivery service for people who are housebound or have significant difficulty getting to a library.
Housebound Library Service
For people who are housebound or have significant difficulty getting to a library, we are developing our housebound library delivery service to people in their own homes.
For further information visit www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/Libraries/Pages/HouseboundLibraryService.aspx or call 01273 296906.
We want your views
We want to know what you think about this proposal and how we might best continue to meet your library service needs, so please read the attached letter by going to the Supporting Documents tab and then answer the questions by clicking the Start Survey button.
The event is not currently available for consultation.