Last Tuesday 9th July was a full council meeting. I prepared a question to ask Cllr Saima Suleman – the Cabinet lead for Digital, Culture, Heritage & Tourism to ask if she would consider extending the Library Consultation, due to end on Wednesday 17th July, because of the General Election.
However, I was not called by the Lord Mayor in the time limit given for verbal questions. I therefore later emailed the question to Cllr Suleman. I am sad to say I have not even received an acknowledgement.
The question is as follows:
‘Dear Cllr Suleman
I hoped to ask you this question at full council on Tuesday but I was not called by the Lord Mayor.
Has any consideration been given to extending the first phase of the consultation please, due to the distraction of the recent general election and the possible change of direction on regional and LA funding considering we have a new Government in office?
The potential closure and loss of our library services is very controversial, as is evidenced by the strength of feeling in the number of ongoing questions, petitions, events and protests we are all aware of.
3771 questionnaire responses received on Be Heard does not seem representative of a population of over 1.1 million people and does not correspond to the number of people who have signed petitions.
Planned Face to face events which could have obtained more detailed feedback, especially from people who might find filling in a 30-minute questionnaire daunting, have now been postponed to the second phase. This does not send a good message that initial feedback is being taken seriously.
Members who may have assisted the last few weeks in promoting the consultation have instead understandably been involved in election campaigning.
The libraries portfolio has recently been transferred to the Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny committee, but that group has not had the opportunity to consider the budget implications and does not meet again until late July.
The restructuring of the library service has potential impact on our communities, especially young people for decades to come. It is imperative the council listens to its residents and gets this right. Save Libraries campaign groups have already stated they feel this consultation is deeply flawed.
Would you please consider extending the consultation at least to the middle of August, if not longer ? This would allow more responses to be made but also give more children and families chance to take part when school breaks up for the holidays.
I look forward to your reply
Best wishes
Izzy’
Councillor Izzy Knowles
Moseley Ward
Birmingham City Council
Councillors Izzy Knowles, Philip Mills & Moseley Liberal Democrats 