OUTCOME OF THE FULL COUNCIL MEETING

OUTCOME OF THE FULL COUNCIL MEETING 

25 November 2014

Leon handed his petition to Cornwall Council in September but they only gave him 5 minutes to speak at the meeting today, on the day when they were finalising the budget decisions they had already made. This meant that it would have been unlikely that Leon could have had any influence over budgetary decisions.

Undeterred, Leon drummed up a lot of support and publicity and sent his list of demands to the Councillors ahead of the meeting today. So, when the Council considered Leon’s petition, they had to take his list of demands into account.

In recognition for his hard work and dedication to saving libraries and understanding the strong feelings towards the library service, a councillor put forward the motion that Leon’s list of demands be considered when reshaping the council's Face to Face services. This motion was seconded and the majority of people voted for (no voters against) this motion – this is being called ‘Leon’s List’

This is good news because it means we put libraries back on the agenda and forced Cornwall Council to understand that they cannot just make cuts without taking our views into consideration. Because of the flawed process, we didn’t manage to change the budget decision but now, each time they go to make a change to a library in Cornwall, they will first need to consult ‘Leon’s List’.

LIST OF DEMANDS: ‘Leon’s List’

1.       All further budget cuts to the libraries are halted with immediate effect to allow for meaningful public consultation.

2.       Reverse decision to cut library hours – at a minimum, restore all day opening on Saturdays, and at least one late night per week

3.       Any proposal to devolve responsibility to Town and Parish Councils is reviewed by a strategy group of experts.

4.       If volunteers are needed, then recruitment is done properly with clearly defined roles and money set aside for training.

5.       Review how the cuts to the mobile library service will meet the needs of people in remote areas.

6.       Any move of One Stops Shops into Library buildings is halted immediately.  One Stop Shops are only to be moved if it is not at the expense of library space, staff and if the capital money in this case goes to libraries also.