TASK has been active over the past month in generating a community campaign which has resulted in Redbridge Council withdrawing its controversial plan to close Goodmayes Library. This is how the story was reported by Sarah Cosgrove of the Ilford Recorder:
'Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sue Nolan told The Recorder she has decided to withdraw the budget option to close Goodmayes Library, in Goodmayes Lane.
"I have attended a number of meetings to discuss our budget proposals and as with last year I have listened to the community, I believe that there are alternative ways of providing the services in Goodmayes Library and I now look to the community to help deliver this valued service," she said.
"There has been much talk about how we should provide the service in a different way and we are talking to other neighbouring Boroughs in relation to shared services but would welcome any initiatives that the community would also like me to consider."'
The fact that Cllr Sue Nolan has withdrawn her proposal to close Goodmayes Library is important but it was also important not count our chickens yet, so a group opposing the closure still handed in to tonight's Cabinet meeting a massive petition, tallying nearly 6,000 signatures as a record of our strength of opposition. Speeches made by our group covered the personal and community benefits of the current services, inadequacies in the closure case, and, in my remarks, proposals for a more strategic and engaged approach to involving the voluntary and community sector in future.
I said:
"It is excellent news that the proposal to close Goodmayes Library has been withdrawn and that Councillor Nolan is now looking to look to the community to help deliver this valued service. However, that, by itself, is not sufficient if we are to learn lessons from the way in which the process of reviewing the budget proposals has been handled to date. Simply to wait for community proposals and initiatives is insufficient because it results in a piecemeal approach to the issues and their solutions.
What is needed is a strategic approach to engaging with and involving the voluntary and community sector as part of a positive approach to the Government’s Big Society agenda, which can also encompass the immediate issue of how to find savings in the Council’s overall budget.
I suggest that taking a strategic approach to the issue would involve a comprehensive and detailed consultation with all voluntary and community sector organisations in the borough to audit their facilities and services and to seek ideas on the types and forms of community involvement which could preserve services and deliver cost savings. In addition to the possibility of services run by voluntary and community organisations, options could also include location of services in existing community building and increased use of volunteers, among other options. To undertake this kind of consultation would result in far more useful outcomes for addressing the current budget challenges than the pseudo-consultation which is the Redbridge Conversation and which tells the Council nothing substantial in terms of how to address the issue practically and creatively.
Such a strategic approach would also identify the real impacts of the cuts proposed. Cuts proposed by one Council department regularly impact on the work of other departments without these effects being identified and the real cost of the proposals is therefore not considered in decisions made. One example is the decision to close the Aldborough Road South toilets which impact on the playscheme in Seven Kings Park and on use of the playscheme by children from Downshall Primary School. The playscheme is a wonderful addition to the Park and the children at Downshall School have been consulted in its design but if the toilets are closed Downshall School will be unable to take groups of children to the Park and playscheme. This is a hidden impact as far as the paper assessing the budget proposals has been concerned because the proposals have not been developed or assessed strategically.
The strategic review, for which I am calling, will result in a more informed set of proposals and should become a standard part of the proposal development process in future."
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The Style Council - Walls Come Tumbling Down!
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