Queen Camilla loves 'wonderful' libraries - but does NELC's cabinet share the same enthusiasm?

Queen Camilla - sad that so many public libraries have closed
(official photo of Camilla via Wikimedia Commons)

 

CAMPAIGNERS battling to save North East Lincolnshire Council's libraries from being downgraded - or even closed - will have been buoyed by comments made earlier this week by Queen Camilla.

In Edinburgh to open a new public library - one of no fewer than 28 in Scotland's capital city  - she enthused: "They are wonderful places -  from toddlers to pensioners, they  inspire a love of reading.

"I wish other authorities would follow Edinburgh's  example and open more libraries all over the country, because I think, sadly, a lot of them have been closing down."

Over the past nine years, more than 180 council-run libraries in the UK are understood either to have closed, been handed over to volunteer groups or diminished.

In North East Lincolnshire, the library in Immingham is flourishing, but, as NELC seeks to make savings, a dark cloud looms over the future of its counterparts in Grimsby (the central library is 'temporarily' closed), Cleethorpes and Waltham.

Queen Camilla's enthusiasm for libraries seems not to be shared by members of NELC's cabinet.

During the latest discussion about those locally, five members chose to stay silent - possibly through not wanting to jeopardise a consultation process and partly perhaps  because they are not particularly interested. Or possibly both.

Portfolio holder for leisure services, Cllr  Hayden Dawkins said the  intention was to remove potentially dangerous asbestos from Grimsby Central  Library  as quickly as possibly,  but he offered no guarantee that the building would reopen as a library.

The stock is currently in a warehouse, but he said the authority was looking for premises where the books and other material could again become accessible to the public.

Asked why Whitehall funding earmarked for reopening of the upper floors of the library had been diverted to the Freshney Place development  project, he said there has been scant interest from any organisation in occupying this part of the premises.

Council leader Cllr Philip Jackson's commented: "The authority is legally obliged to provide a library service."

The Grimsby News says: For those who love and value libraries, Queen Camilla's observations will have been very refreshing. Alas, her influence probably does not extend to North East Lincolnshire where members ofthe council cabinet had scarcely a kind word to say about the precious role they have long played in the life of the community. In the cabinet's latest deliberations, there was scarcely a note of support - let alone enthusiasm. It seems that the current administration does not particularly want to run a library service - certainly not one that is that is first-in-class. It does so only because it is under "legal obligation" to do so.  What could be more begrudging than that?