Camden's Labour Cabinet met last week and rubberstamped the libraries report - plan A. This, thankfully does not involve West Hampstead Library (which was only ever under real threat under the "Doomsday option" involving closure of the majority of our libraries). But 3 of Camden's most loved libraries all with flourishing Friends Groups (Belsize, Hampstead and Chalk Farm) are to be handed over to the community to run if they can and removed from the "public" library service by 2013. There was much objection from library users to this scheme and it will run and run. Meanwhile the rest of us will get shorter hours, fewer books and what is likely to be a second-rate service in future.
The other decision taken at Cabinet - against fervent protest from users - was to cut the grant to Camden Community Nurseries by 50%. In West Hampstead, this means Sington Nursery which was moved to the ground floor of the Community Hall as a temporary measure, pending a move to a rebuilt Fortune Green Play Centre. This was a great scheme with assured Government funding and agreed planning permission, but the Labour Council pulled the plug. Sington is stuck in premises unsuitable for the long term and now is to have half its funding callously wiped out.
Councillors Flick Rea and Keith Moffitt have "called in" this arbitrary decision (which goes against the Council's declared intention to keep Early Years service reductions down to 10%) . This means that the prroposal will have to go back to the Scrutiny Committee in July for a further look at this disastrous decision. Let's keep fingers crossed that they come to a different conclusion and recommend that this valuable service is reprieved.
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