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Selling off borough’s public libraries is act of social vandalism

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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

Andrew Fisher’s recent columns:

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