Library group calls on council to bring in experts

A campaign group has called on a council to bring in an external body to ultimately help keep local libraries open.

Peterborough City Council has proposed carrying out an assessment to work out how it could reduce the cost of running its 10 libraries.

But the Friends of Woodston Library group said the council did not have the "resources or experience" to carry out the assessment in house.

The council's cabinet voted through its 2025-26 budget plan at a meeting on Tuesday night.

Jennie Storey, chairman of the Friends of Woodston Library group, wrote in an open letter sent to all councillors ahead of the meeting that libraries should be given "top priority".

"[This would] increase literacy and life chances, access to information, knowledge and learning, reducing social and digital isolation, improving mental wellbeing and employment prospects," she explained.

She said assessing how much residents needed the libraries should be a "specialist process".

The city council previously proposed cutting its library stock down to three locations, but that plan was scrapped.

Budget documents say the cost of delivering leisure, heritage and library services is forecast at about £2m more than the council's available budget and that it must "change those services to remove that pressure".

The Labour administration has rowed back on several of its original budget proposals, including mothballing the city's art deco lido.

The council still proposes to reduce lido costs - such as by lowering the pool's temperature - and the opening hours at Peterborough Museum and Art Galley will be reduced.

Woodston Library and others locations remain on the council's community assets review, which lists buildings that could be closed, sold or repurposed.

The council said it would carry out a "full needs assessment" on libraries before making "detailed recommendations" on how costs could be reduced.

Deputy leader of the council Mohammed Jamil said on Tuesday that "voting for the budget does not mean voting for library closures".

"We are not proposing to close libraries or the museum at this stage; we will start the consultation," he said.

Jamil said it had been "one of the most challenging years yet", which meant putting "difficult proposals" on the table.

The council faces a projected overspend for 2024-25 of £5.4m, which executive director of corporate services Cecile Booth said would "virtually wipe out" its reserves.

She also explained how the council was taking on extra financial risk by buying Hilton Garden Inn - after a buyer for the partially finished project pulled out.

The 2025-26 budget plan is due to voted on by all 60 councillors on 19 February.

The council has also proposed raising council tax by 4.99%.

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