Southwark Library closures?

Southwark Council is undertaking a ‘library review’. The consultation process for the review includes a survey questionnaire which will commence in all libraries next week, as well as an online version of the survey being available on the Council’s website. (I’ll add the link to this when it become available).

The terms of reference for the review have been agreed as follows to:
– make recommendations for savings and efficiencies of a minimum of £397,000 over the years 2012/13 and 2013/14 (potential library closures).
– review demand and usage patterns in order to determine appropriate choices for the future scale and nature of provision (potential library closures).
– consider and make recommendations on innovative methods of service delivery including through the delivery of other Council customer services
– maximise the use of ICT in terms of service delivery and as a service (books aren’t very fashionable in Library services).
– consider what other services might be delivered from libraries (talk of coffee sales)
– review the impact of opening Canada Water Library on the total service offer (as it will cost more to run than the Rotherhithe Library it replaces).

A public meeting is being held at each library which locally are:
05/07/2011 7pm to 8pm Kingswood Library
11/07/2011 7pm to 8pm Dulwich Library
13/07/2011 2pm to 3pm Grove Vale Library

PLEASE DO GO ALONG SO THAT THEY ARE VIEWED AS POPULAR. If we want to keep Dulwich Library opening 7 days a week people need to go along and tell them. IF you want to keep Grove Vale Library and Kingswood Library do go along.

For background of what might be possible – http://jamesbarber.mycouncillor.org.uk/2011/03/22/expanding-libraries/
Following these ideas the current Library budget should allow for cuts and more opening hours.

What do you think should happen to our public libraries in Southwark?

Food waste recycling

Southwark Council has been piloting a food waste recycling scheme and fortnightly rubbish collections involving 10,000 homes for many months now. It has been undertaken on homes with direct access to its street and this type of waste collection has been undertaken – not much to learn from this. Unsurprisingly having chosen the keenest recyclers for the pilot its been a success.

At a review with the Environmental Scrutiny Committee it has been agreed to my proposals to try offering blue recycling wheelie bins – sadly only to homes in Crebor Street which feels like tokenism – and to extend the pilot to the Friern Road blocks of flats. The blue wheelie bins have been repeatedly requested from keen recycling families who generate lots of recycling and are sick of multiple blue boxes and bags. Flats because the vast majority of homes in Southwark are flats. So without including flats we’ll discover how to make a system work for such homes and never reach the doubling of recycling to 44% that the Labour administration have promised by 2014.

The other element I pushed for at that committee was to extend the pilot to all Southwark street properties ASAP. So I was delighted to see that this is now planned to happen in the Autumn to add 35,000 homes.

We then need to see how we can extend this recycling to all remaining properties.  Without these remaining properties they’ll never reach 44%.

Holmhurst Day Centre latest

The decision to close the Holmhurst Day Centre in Dulwich was due to be taken in April and then May ie. now. This day centre centre helps older people with dementia and mental health problems. Not somewhere easilly replicated elsewhere and with patients who don’t cope well with uncertainty or change.
Sadly the Labour councillor due to make that decision Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle has had a bereavement. It has been decided due to her mourning to delay the decision by one month apparently costing the council £66,000 each month.
 
Amazingly the Labour leadership has decided not to step in to make this decision and reduce Dora’s burden at this time of her greatest need.
 
I’m clear this saving isn’t required – they’re stashing away an extra £9M into unallocated contingency this year and each of the following two years. But if they’re going to do it then they should have the grace to do it responsibly and stick to timetables to ensure patients and families have certainty.
 
So the obvious question is what will be cut by £66,000 x 2 to make up for the two months delay or will they dip into their £9M cash pile?

Council rent crisis

Labour run Southwark Council has caused as computer error results in many wrong council rent statements being issued.

This all came to light when one tenant received a statement asking for £600 more than it should have.

Frighteningly the Labour run council housing department doesn’t know what went wrong so can’t tell who received incorrect statements. So they are having to have all statements issued again – that’s 50,000.

As they don’t know what went wrong their is no guarantee the new statement run wont also be riddle with mistakes.

If you receive a council housing statement that you think might be wrong please get in touch with me and I’ll get it fully checked out for you.

Dulwich Leisure Centre gym grand reopening

It is with great pleasure, and a little relief, that I can announce that the Dulwich Leisure Centre gym and studios will reopen at 10am on Saturday 25 June. HOORAY.

Apart from some speeches, free refreshments visitors will get tours of the new facilities. Also the 3 winners of a year free membership of the gym will be announced – enter the competition here www.southwark.gov.uk/dulwich

If you’d like to get sneak preview of the new revitalised gym A1 3D pictures are now viewable in the centre foyer.

Do let me know what you think.

Southwark secondary school admissions

One of the Southwark Council scrutiny committees are undertaking a review of schools admissions and support for parents and carers.  As part of this I’d encourage parents and carers whose children have applied for a Southwark secondary school place to complete their questionnaire and tell them how you think it could be improved.

Apparently it only takes a few minutes to fill out . Please click on this link to access the survey. Alternatively if you’d like a freepost paper copy  then please contact the Scrutiny team on 020 7525 0514 or email Julie.Timbrell@southwark.gov.uk.

Deadline for questionnaire responses is 13 May.

2011 Census in Southwark

This years census appears to be going as badly as the 2001 census. Both times its been organised by a council led by Southwark Labour. I’m sure its just coincidence…

IF you’ve not filled in the forms please do. Census results can seriously affect our areas wealth as central government and other agencies decide where to spend based on the data. Equally businesses use some of the data to decidre where to invest and promote their businesses.

If you have any problems and are a resident of East Dulwich please get in touch and I will put you in touch with help.

Dulwich Community Council – this years community fund opens

This years Community Fund is open. You can apply for between £100-£1000 for a community event – festival, outing, fun day, newsletter. Any ideas but you’re not sure contact me.
The Dulwich Community Fund has £15,000 which we usually divide into £5,000 for each ward.

To apply you’ll need to fill in a form by Monday 16 May and the event must be take place before 31 March 2012.

I’d expect us to decide by the end of May which events to support with funding. Get applying.

Snowfighting

To fight snow falls salt is an integral weapon in Southwark councils arsenal. To ensure salt can be spread it needs to be kept dry else is goes lumpy and cakes. Uncovered salt also leaches away causing environmental problems.

The 40thSnowfighters handbook states “Salt piles must be covered on an impermeable pad. Salt users usually prefer permanent structures on asphalt pads with proper drainage. Temporary waterproof coverings can be effective if tended carefully. Covering salt also helps avoid loss of material through leaching and caking. Also, salt without cakes and lumps spreads with no difficulty.”

When asked, Southwark officers have always assured me that Southwarks salt supply is kept under covers. So I paid a visit to Southwarks salt. Its located at the junction of Latona Road  with Haymerle Road.

Any attempt to us this salt will be at best problematic. In fact much will need to be thrown away and replaced. I also found this salt store uncovered 3 months ago when nearly empty when I last checked. I had assumed wrongly that as operational they’d just forgotten to replace the cover. Sadly I was wrong and its an ongoing problem of salt mismanagement by Southwark.

Ideally salt would be kept in a salt barn. I’ve previously asked and the administration whether they would consider installing a salt barn (£200,000 capital) and they have stated that  they wont build a salt barn as they claimed no need as they kept the salt covered with tarpaulins and tyres.

IF the Lib Dems were running the council we would build a proper salt store to avoid council officers failing to keep salt covered, ensure we had quality salt available to keep Southwark streets clear and avoid the recent winter salt rationing that left so many of our streets in a parlous state.

Expanding Libraries

The Labour Southwark Council budget proposes cuts to Southwark Libraries. I approached indie libraries for advice about how budgets could be cut while protecting actual libraries and the crucial services they provide. I was pointed to the following YouTube videos – 3 x 10mins videos showing a talk given by Tim Coates – former CEO of Waterstones and library guru:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9XEMWjReI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfvREOzugKA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p1w6m2GI_0

Following his advice I think Southwark appears from CiPFA to spend just over £6.6M on library services.  Also following his model roughly and conservatively £2M appears avoidable without damaging any front line services. Those back office costs that get in the way of our libraries offering a truly great and responsive service.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

Also while out and about I came across one of the building used to support Southwark Libraries pictured above – its bigger than most Southwark Libraries!