The Save York Gardens website is a place to come to find out more about York Gardens Library and Community Centre and the plans that are being made to keep it open. In March 2011, Wandsworth Council agreed a proposal which would allow the library to stay open as a ‘Big Society’ pilot project. We are now all learning what this means. We do know that we’re going to be reliant on many enthusiastic local people and volunteers. This library needs you!
The library and community centre serves some of the most deprived communities in Wandsworth and in November 2010 it was threatened with closure. A community campaign has saved the library but to save money the council has decided that it will now be run as a Direct Services Organisation, with much reduced staffing and funding.
We have got to this point following a successful campaign by local people, which really did make a difference. Without this campaign the library would be closing later this year.
The campaign has included: leaflets, petitions, TV news reports, public meetings, speeches in committees and full council meetings and word-of-mouth from people on the Kambala, Winstanley and York Road Estates.
This website is now looked after by members of the Friends of York Gardens – a community group which is working with the council to keep the library going.
If you’d like more information please email yorkgardenslibrary@gmail.com or leave a comment on this site.
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Dear all,
Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Tony Belton and those I cc’d it to. Good luck with the campaign.
Councillor Tony Belton
Leader of the Opposition
Wandsworth Borough Council
The Town Hall
Wandsworth
SW18 2PU
22nd January 2011
Dear Sir,
CLOSURE OF YORK GARDENS LIBRARY
I am sorry to hear that there is a proposal to close York Gardens Library as part of the spending cuts enforced by the government.
Public libraries exist to provide books, magazines, journals, newspapers, online access and a pleasant research and learning environment to people who have neither the money to pay for these services nor the space in which to enjoy them. Furthermore the library provides other activities such as homework clubs, and an older persons’ social club. This is particularly important in Latchmere ward, an area of high deprivation and overcrowded accommodation in high rise estates, where the library is situated.
This library is used a great deal by minority groups and pensioners. There is also a well-used and lively childrens’ section. To close the library would mean parents having to take their children almost a mile to the nearest facilities and those of pensionable age may well have mobility problems. Not to mention the extra costs involved in getting there. Also by depriving those groups in danger of social exclusion there is a risk of breaching Wandsworth Council’s policies on Equality and Diversity.
I understand that this perverse proposal to close the library is based on a drop in the number of adult borrowers and the consequent rise in costs while ignoring the other range of services provided especially the high volume of children’s books borrowed. This cost benefit analysis approach reminds of the saying about understanding the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Clearly it is better to keep a public library within a neighbourhood locality for ease of access and use in promoting knowledge and skills and the pleasure of learning. Also to provide a welcoming community space rather than the isolating outreach library service that has been proposed or shifting the service elsewhere in the borough. If any thing there should be greater investment in promoting the library as a resource in the area especially for ‘hard-to-reach’ people.
This isn’t impossible. The council has a reserve fund of £105 million and the savings made by closing down York Gardens Library will only amount to about £74,000 after replacement services have been provided.
There is something I find a little disturbing. I am not a big fan of conspiracy theories but I note that a conservative council has decided to make spending cuts in a ward that does not return conservative councillors at local elections. This may be a coincidence.
I ask you to urge those responsible for the proposal to close York Gardens Library to reconsider their decision. The benefits to the local community by far outweigh the small amount that will be saved as a result of cutting this much-loved and valuable service.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Townson
cc Councillor Edward Lister, Leader Wandsworth Borough Council
Rt. Hon. Jane Ellison MP
http://www.saveyorkgardens.com
Leisure & Amenity Service Committee Members
Hello. Thanks for the support-I know this is really last minute but I would really appreciate any publicity you could give to the read-in happening at York Gardens Library on 5th February? We are trying to organise an event which will appeal to everyone in the community, before the community resource is taken away.
We are hoping to start by hijacking the library’s regular rhymetime (12.30-1.00) and making it the most popular one they’ve ever held. After that we’ve got various authors, actors and musicians speaking and playing- and we’re hoping to have members of the public coming onstage and talking about what the library means to them (they will only be allowed to talk about this issue). The event will finish at 3 with Caroline Lawrence handing out free copies of her best-selling Roman Mysteries series.
We’ve made a facebook event http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=183595988342031 and I’m even trying my hand at a blog http://readinyorkgardens.blogspot.com/ to put all the details on.
Thanks for taking the time to read this
Winnie