Wrexham considers relocating libraries to schools

Wrexham Council is reviewing the future of its library service for the second time in five years and could relocate them to schools to save money.

The local authority has announced a fresh review of the 10 libraries as part of a budget consultation. Wrexham currently spends around £1.3million on its library service each year and wants to cut back on building maintenance.

Its chief executive, Ian Bancroft, told local paper The Leader one strategy could be to place them in schools or relocate them to town centres.

He said: “The research shows that you either need libraries co-located or you need them in the busiest place with a heavy footfall on the High Street. There are examples where we’ve got libraries very close to schools where schools are running a library and we’re running a library nearby.

“I think the importance of the review is we have that debate with the community and those stakeholders saying how do we make sure we sustain these facilities in a way that’s affordable for the long term."

In 2014, the local authority announced plans to outsource the library service to a trust. That proposal was axed following a financial review showing it would actually drive up costs by £200,000 annually.

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) said it was concerned by the schools relocation suggestion, which could create problems around out-of hours access, and urged councillors not to "skip straight to proposed solutions which may or may not work for library users".

The latest threat comes at a time of uncertainty in the library sector as councils try to cope with shrinking budgets. Essex could lose 25 of its 74 libraries under proposals currently being consulted on, with community groups being encouraged to run some of the services.

Wrexham Council leader Mark Pritchard, said: “In the autumn of 2018, we opened our Difficult Decisions budget consultation to the people of Wrexham, examining a number of possible service cuts and changes to inform our budgets in the coming years. 

“Our library service was one of the areas set out for consultation, with the option of a full review of library services to ensure that they meet the needs of residents, and are affordable for the future. We currently spend about £1.3m on the library service in Wrexham each year, and with a reducing council budget we wanted to ensure that we undertook a full review of the service, rather than risk cuts to the service each year on a reactive basis. Staff, communities and users will play a very large role in the review, as we want to know what their needs are and how the service might best serve them.”

A petition to ring fence government funding for public libraries, backed by people including JK Rowling, has amassed more than 32,000 signatures.