In his latest column, ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, looks for the real reasons behind closure plans and suggests that the Labour Government should be doing more to help struggling local authorities
One of my favourite songs from the 1990s begins with the lyric, “Libraries gave us power”. It resonated with me, because I was an avid reader and libraries gave working-class kids like me access to a wealth of information, ideas and entertainment – and did so for free.
‘Knowledge is power’: Pillgwenlly public library, an inspiration for more than a song
As a young boy I visited my local library as well as the town centre library – all in the pre-internet age – and that state-subsidised access to books broadened my horizons. Today, as a parent, my children have spent hours looking for new books – fact and fiction – to broaden their horizons, too.
The opening line of the Manic Street Preachers’ hit “A Design for Life” was inspired by the inscription above the entrance to the Pillgwenlly library in Newport: “Knowledge is Power”. Power and knowledge are not evenly distributed in our society, but libraries have always been a great equaliser.
Not every family could afford shelves of books for their offspring, and not every home can today afford home access to the internet through a computer. Libraries level the playing field. Having a local library is a matter of equality and social justice.
At the beginning of this year, Croydon Council opened a consultation over its proposals to close four public libraries – Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley. The consultation closed in April, but nothing yet has been heard about its findings.
Given three of those libraries fall within the Croydon South constituency of Chris Philp, it was politically convenient for the Conservative Mayor not to announce library closures when his party colleague was fighting for his political survival in the General Election against a strong Labour campaign.
Opposed library closures: Tory MP Chris Philp
When the last Labour council threatened to close libraries, Philp was a vocal opponent. In 2021, Croydon South’s Conservative MP said: “There is absolutely no excuse for the council to close our libraries… the amount of money that would be saved by closing the libraries is a drop in the ocean of the council’s debt – just £0.5million per year would be saved.”
Broad Green’s public library serves one of the most deprived wards in Croydon. Losing a library there is hitting a large number of families who are less likely to have extensive bookshelves or home internet provision for their children.
According to the council’s own consultation documents, keeping Broad Green Library open costs just £100,000 a year – close to what Mayor Perry costs us each year, once you factor in wages, employment costs and expenses.
In fact, according to the council’s own consultation papers, the total annual cost of all four libraries earmarked for closure is
£434,986
So less than half a million pounds would be saved for a council that has debts of £1.3billion and an annual deficit of £38 million.
Shutting these vital local resources will have no discernible impression on the council’s dire finances – it would be an act of social vandalism.
Croydon has been lucky to avoid cuts to libraries so far. In the 14 years of Conservative government from 2010 to 2024, more than 1,000 libraries across England closed permanently.
The attraction for Croydon in joining the library-closing barbarians is not the annual revenue savings, but the prospect of selling off the sites on which they sit.
Croydon Council is reliant on dispensation from the Department for Local Government to stay afloat. Last year, Croydon was allowed a £38million “capitalisation direction”. As the government website helpfully explains, “Capitalisation directions permit a local authority to meet revenue costs through capital resources.” In other words, Croydon is “balancing the books” by flogging off assets – and libraries are next in the firing line.
This is a clearly unsustainable situation – you cannot pay the rent (for long at least) by flogging the furniture.
This is the economics of the madhouse – and the responsibility now is to find a solution for councils around the country, many of which are in a worse situation even than Croydon (despite its problems, Croydon is not even in the top 10 most indebted councils in England).
Emergency Budget: Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Chancellor, should be doing more for councils
This is why Labour should have been honest in the election campaign that taxes needed to go up to fund libraries, council services in general, the NHS, schools, courts and other public services that have been left in a terrible state by the Conservative governments of the last decade and a half.
If Labour had started that honest conversation ahead of the election, it could have hiked taxes on the super-rich in an Emergency Budget. Just this week, the High Pay Centre has reported that the bosses of Britain’s largest corporations have increased their already colossal incomes with the average FTSE 100 CEO’s pay jumping from £4.2million to £5million in 2023. A 19% pay rise for those taking home more in one year than most workers earn all their lives.
The money is there, it’s just in the wrong hands.
But to protect the wealth of the few, we are closing services for the many.
Read more: Comic Kumar’s message for Mayor over Shirley library closure
- From 2015 to 2019, Andrew Fisher was the Labour Party’s Director of Policy under Jeremy Corbyn. Fisher is also the author of The Failed Experiment – and how to build an economy that works, and now writes columns for InsideCroydon, the i newspaper and is a regular pundit on BBC and Sky News programmes
Andrew Fisher’s recent columns:
- A chill wind is blowing as Labour breaks pensioners’ pledge
- Planning and tax changes might suit delayed Westfield scheme
- Bringing the parties to book: manifestos are empty of promise
- ‘Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others!’
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Libraries need to adapt more, they need to be more multi-purpose. The internet has meant easy access to information so borrowing books for the average person isn’t seen as vital as it was. Things like banking hubs have been a good idea and many use them for their computers or simply just to stay warm but there needs to be more talks, more events at libraries, maybe things like a youth club incorporated into them, maybe open a small high quality cafe in more if appropriate. I know some libraries try hard, but more needs to be done. As many things as possible to make them as useful and completely indispensable to the area so they are open full time and as many people as possible feel they are completely vital and it being nothing short of political suicide if any are sold off. I feel like they are just being allowed to quietly die but in a fractured society they can only help play a positive role.
All good ideas, Carl. Many of which have been raised here before.
Croydon’s librarians would probably want to introduce many of them, and others.
But they have been stifled from doing their jobs by a succession of maladroit council officials and bungling administrations – red and blue
They’re not ‘being allowed to die’ – they’re just fading away. They’ve no evolved for 30 years or more, since the interweb started. Literally everyone has a smartphone, so providing information isn’t the issue. The ONLY useful asset, I think, is the provision of a quiet refuge where students can study. So maybe that could be provided at schools, leisure centres and the like – perhaps with free wifi? Then the libraries can fade away and be turned info accommodation – which IS needed
The Nazis publicly burned books. The Conservatives quietly close libraries
Godwin’s Law by the fourth comment. I’m impressed.
Let’s not forget we saved Croydon libraries before. Both parties have tried to close them! They must be kept open with proper staffing! Tax the rich is the answer
Social vandalism? Anti-social vandalism, more like it
If closure comes Shirley Library must not be sold. It should kept to be used as a community hub facility.
Hmm. “A community hub facility”. Or what we call a library.