LABOUR MP VOICES HER CONCERNS OVER CARNEGIE AND UPPER NORWOOD “More than 100 residents have written to me in one week”
HELEN HAYES, LABOUR MP FOR DULWICH AND WEST NORWOOD said it was important to say she clearly recognised the financial constraints that were facing the council.
She had come to represent her constituents who used the Carnegie and Upper Norwood joint library and the “more than 100 residents who have written to me in the past week.
“The council does need to work creatively to keep our libraries open.” (Applause) “And I would rather see a library remain open than close but run on a different basis. “There are a number of concerns that I wanted to table.
“At Carnegie residents have overwhelmingly told me that it’s a library which needs to be at the centre of the future of that building. “The gym at Carnegie doesn’t fit particularly well in the physical building.
“I’m concerned about the lack of detail and the need for a detailed process of community engagement.” (Applause)
At Upper Norwood her concern was that the amount of funding in the budget was not enough.
“If we get UNJL off to a flying start we can save it in perpetuity.”
BILL LINSKY, chairman of the Brixton Society on behalf of Lambeth Local History Forum, foresaw problems with having showers in the same building – the Minet – as the borough archives. “The devil is in the detail. “Your report is very, very light.”
CLLR TIM REES Conservative opposition leader: “A CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) report says 50 per cent of Lambeth’s libraries budget is spent at Lambeth town hall before going to the libraries. “This report has no proper co-operation, no proper consultation.”
Steering groups were “packed with Labour supporters who just nodded it through” he added.