CILIP sounds alarm over ‘fire sale’ of library buildings  

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), has sounded the alarm over a potential “fire sale” of library buildings following the government announcement of “exceptional financial support” to 19 councils, including Birmingham, Bradford and Nottingham. 

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced that 19 councils in England will benefit from an “Exceptional Financial Support (EFS)” framework for the fiscal year 2024-25, totalling around £1.5bn. 

CILIP said: “Rather than representing new investment or capital support, the framework allows the councils involved to use capital receipts from the sale of assets or borrowing to cover their day-to-day costs up to this amount.”  

“Additionally, there is further support for capitalisation requests from previous years amounting to £976 million”, it added. 

Birmingham’s in-principle capitalisation support is £685m for 2024-25 and £570.1m in total for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2023-24, for example.

Other councils listed are Cheshire East, Croydon, Cumberland, Eastbourne, Havering, Medway, Middlesbrough, North Northamptonshire, Plymouth, Slough, Somerset, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Thurrock, West Northamptonshire and Woking.

The Department said: “Since 2020, the government has agreed to provide a number of local authorities with support via the Exceptional Financial Support framework, following requests from these councils for assistance to manage financial pressures that they considered unmanageable. 

“Support provided via this framework is usually provided in the form of a capitalisation direction. Capitalisation directions permit a local authority to meet revenue costs through capital resources. All support provided through the Exceptional Financial Support framework has been in the form of capitalisation directions unless stated otherwise.

“In all cases, the government has set a clear expectation that the authorities continue to manage and mitigate their financial pressures, as well as respond effectively to the individual challenges they are facing and provide regular updates to the government on progress. 

“The support is provided on an exceptional basis, and on the condition that each local authority is subject to an external assurance review.”   

Commenting on the announcement, CILIP interim c.e.o. Jo Cornish, said: “This ‘exceptional financial support’ announced by government is in reality nothing of the sort. Instead, central government is suggesting that cash-strapped Councils should do the equivalent of using their savings (long-term investment budgets) and selling property to cover day-to-day running costs. 

“This framework creates a material risk that councils will sell off parts of their property portfolio, including libraries, to address the funding shortfall caused by the withdrawal of central government grants. We know from our experience supporting library services across the UK, this is a one-way trip – once a library building is sold off, it permanently impairs the life chances and property values of local residents. It’s a one-way deal and very much like using the credit card to pay the mortgage. 

“We urgently call on central government to work with councils to provide long-term sustainable investment to protect local services and halt their decline, including statutory public library provision.” 

In response to increasing concerns over proposals to reduce or close library services, CILIP recently launched the ‘Libraries at Risk Monitor’ – a regularly-updated map of proposed changes to libraries across the UK.