Support grows for No to Privatisation of Croydon’s Libraries!

Thanks to Alan Wylie, who has added his voice of support to the petition.  See his post here:

Stop the privatisation of Public Libraries: No to Privatisation of Croydon’s Libraries!: I fully support Save Croydon Libraries and their campaign to stop the privatisation of their Library Service. Please sign the petit…

In addition, tweets and messages of support are coming in, thick and fast.

Here’s just a selection:

Writer and Illustrator, Sarah McIntyre

 Children’s author, Philip Ardagh

Teen author, Helen Grant

Croydon North MP, Steve Reed

 Local residents, councillors and groups

 Even the account run by Croydon’s democratic services is open to exploring the issue!

You can find further tweets here in Storify

And on the petition

 and the blog

A proper democratic process has not been followed.

Please add your voice!

The REAL cost of Privatisation

Thanks to library campaigner Alan Wylie for the following link.  It certainly puts the risks of library privatisation in perspective.
http://www.calaborfed.org/userfiles/doc/2011/blog/LibraryPrivatizations.pdf

Is this really a risk worth taking?

With Croydon Labour already threatening to cancel the JLIS deal and with Croydon Conservatives potentially only having a year left in control, the fall out from this deal on the taxpayer is potentially enormous.

This will affect us all – library user, library supporter or not.

Surely it is time to pause for thought or we may all be paying the price for an ill-considered decision for years to come.

Stop the privatisation of Public Libraries: Ealing Gazette readers say no to Library Privatisation

What Ealing residents said about the prospect of their libraries being privatised.

Read Stop the privatisation of Public Libraries: Ealing Gazette readers say no to Library Privatisa…:   According to a quick poll (see below) in the Ealing Gazette the overwhelming majority of people who read the paper have said no to Lib…

What would Croydon residents say, if asked?

The worst kept secret – John Laing win contract

Alan Wylie was the first to report that he’d been informed that John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS) had been made preferred bidder for the Croydon Libraries contract.

Full marks to Cllr Tim Pollard for keeping a straight face when explaining that companies did not want all their secrets shared.

Then the local press named John Laing as the preferred bidder on the same day it went to the corporate services committee for approval but Inside Croydon went one step further, not only naming Laings but reporting that it was likely the decision could be sent for Judicial Review.

Inside Croydon reported on the meeting, where information was denied to residents and Labour councillors, including the names of the bidders up for consideration or any real detail of the terms of the contract on offer. The chamber and public gallery were treated to a cringe-worthy performance from Cllr Tim Pollard who managed to keep a straight face as he explained that the details of the bids were “commercially sensitive” and no one would work with Croydon if they ” shared their secrets”.

It was very clear that no one was asking for minute details but more the general terms of the contract, the main issues discussed to decide on the preferred bidder and what it might mean for staff and for residents. Most questions were blocked and went unanswered, although Labour councillors George Ayers and Toni Letts were able to establish that the future pay and conditions of staff were not part of any consideration and Croydon planned to only meet minimum pay and conditions for existing staff only.

Cllr Donald Speakman Disregard for access to the library service on offer to residents

The only question of any substance from the Conservatives was a question tabled by Cllr Donald Speakman who was at pains to establish that the unnamed chosen bidder could not open Croydon Libraries on a Sunday without consulting the council as he clearly opposed any such move – a move made by other proactive listening councils in response to user demand. Clearly library users’ and residents’ views were furthest from Cllr Speakman’s mind.

It would be funny if not so serious that the Conservative councillors and the council solicitor repeated blocked questions about facts that were already in the public domain.  On numerous occasions direct facts from verifiable sources were tabled as part of a question posed, such as statements made in Wandsworth Council papers, but these were still ruled as ‘commercially sensitive’ and therefore inadmissible.  It was the stuff of farce. No wonder Croydon ban recording and filming of meetings!

The public were asked to vacate the gallery but remained sitting. No fuss, no noise – just a  firm resolve that they would not be evicted and would not be denied hearing the facts. One woman offered to explain why the group remained but was barred from uttering a word.  The meeting then withdrew to another room to continue the private part of the meeting in camera.

The secret dealings in Croydon have caused many to comment in disbelief. This is far from most people’s understanding of a democratic process.  Decisions taken in secret with key information withheld – Not what most consider democratic. Do they forget that they were elected to serve?

Wokingham’s privatisation of libraries pulled

Wokingham have explored the privatisation option for library services but have chosen not to proceed. You can read the post by Alan Wylie here:
Stop the privatisation of Public Libraries: Wokingham privatisation pulled?

There is a quote from Wokingham Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, that Croydon might like to consider.  She said,

 “The council has been working with interested parties in a competitive dialogue process to see if there are ways that we can work with the private sector to improve the library service we offer. The result is that we haven’t been convinced there will be enough benefits for our library users to continue with the process. We also don’t want to take the risk the key objectives would not be achieved for our users.”

 The procurement process drags on in Croydon. The Conservative administration have been exposed as having no mandate to outsource the whole network of libraries, as is their plan. Short-listed organisations have dropped out along the way and the library service has been eroded and hollowed out through short-sighted cuts to staff and book stock.

An announcement is imminent.  Watch this space.

Lack of information causes confusion…again!

Given Croydon’s record on transparency and libraries it is a shame that the local press continue to run articles without checking other sources. Library campaigners have a very good grasp of the situation and are very keen to work with the local press! The latest article contained misinformation, stating that there are now only three organisations bidding to run the Croydon libraries network along with that of Wandsworth. The correct information was readily available, but not from Croydon Council, the one source you would expect to be providing all the information.

The facts were uncovered by Alan Wylie, finally confirmed and  flagged up on Stop the Privatization of Public Libraries  and confirmed by independent work by Inside Croydon, which we followed up here.

It is a shame the details for the Croydon Guardian article were not checked before uploading the story.  It has already been circulated to a wide readership via Public Libraries News, unchallenged. Whilst the content of the article may not hold weight the comments are worth a read.  The full article can be found here.

Although LSSI have followed Civica by withdrawing from the process there are still four potential providers, yet to be short-listed, as an in house bid was accepted from Wandsworth after LSSI withdrew.

Yet despite speculation that the whole process is falling apart there is no real sign as yet from Wandsworth or from Croydon that they are wavering from their intention to wash their hands of their libraries, with only saving money as their prime, some would suggest their sole, motivator.

LSSI follow Civica and abandon ship!

Following on from yesterday’s post it seems LSSI have withdrawn from the bidding process to run Croydon and Wandsworth library services.  LSSI are the second of the initial five organisations chosen for consideration, to pull out even before final short-listing takes place.

The initial information was uncovered by Alan Wylie, who received confirmation of LSSI’s withdrawal earlier today, from Croydon’s Cllr Tim Pollard, after receiving information to this effect from reliable sources.  You can read Alan Wylie’s post here.

Today Inside Croydon have followed this up with a post confirming that LSSI is no longer in the running, having withdrawn from the process, again quoting Cllr Tim Pollard as one of the sources used.

Altered image, original image by Tim Zim

It appears Cllr Pollard is happy to engage with other parties, to pass on information,  including those from outside of the borough. Hopefully this means Cllr Pollard will soon be providing clear information to us at Save Croydon Libraries Campaign. We’ll let you know how we get on!

Has LSSI pulled out of the race?

The latest news comes from Alan Wylie’s Stop the Privatisation of Public Libraries blog.  Has LSSI withdrawn from the the bidding process to run Croydon and Wandsworth Libraries? Who knows?

Certainly Croydon assured residents who responded to the libraries consultation in huge numbers, numbers never seen before in any other consultation process run by Croydon, that they would be kept informed, yet nothing could be further from the truth. Residents have been astounded at the garbled messages delivered by Cllr Bashford since the consultation and the lack of sound information. It appears that Cllr Pollard, who took on responsibility for libraries in the recent cabinet reshuffle, has taken a leaf out of Cllr Bashford’s book, adopting her approach of complete silence on the matter.

Croydon residents and library campaigners rely on announcements from Wandsworth and information from national campaigners to piece together what might be the case, with regard to our libraries.

Not long after Civica withdrew from the tendering process, allowing an in-house bid from Wandsworth to be added for consideration,  it seems LSSI may have followed suit and withdrawn.

Read more here.

Word is that the final shortlisting has been put back to July from the intended June date, where five will be shortlisted to three. At this rate it seems there will be few left in the process from which to choose.

Perhaps it might be timely to remind Cllr Pollard, who is also deputy leader of Croydon Council, of the campaign group. Save Croydon Libraries campaign was formed from the Save Sanderstead Library Campaign after it became clear that all Croydon Libraries were under threat, even though users of only six libraries had been consulted.  Our reasons for setting up the campaign are set out here, although unsurprisingly the link on the Croydon Council website no longer works!

We set up the campaign group to engage with the council, as advised by the council, yet have had no real engagement to date. So Cllr Pollard, if Croydon really do stand by their words,

“We really do value the time and effort you make to tell us what you think.”

we look forward to hearing from you very shortly.  It is not too late to put things right.

Stop the privatization of Public Libraries: Civica pull out of Croydon/Wandsworth privatisatio…

As minuted in Wandsworth’s Scrutiny committee papers of 19th April, Civica have withdrawn from the bidding process for Croydon and Wandsworth Libraries.  The campaign group has been aware of this but have been waiting for an official announcement from Croydon.

Alan Wylie’s blog has the details, which you can read here.  Stop the privatization of Public Libraries: Civica pull out of Croydon/Wandsworth privatisatio…

That’s Croydon, the council who gave residents every assurance that they would be keep informed all the way through the process.

That’s Croydon, who the Croydon Advertiser exposed for spending £40K on a procurement consultant  after an advertisement was spotted for the post. This later post catalogues Croydon’s record on transparency in this process.

Not looking good, is it?