Croydon still paying for library they tried desperately to ditch!

It has been announced by Lambeth Council that they will take over responsibility for the 112-year-old Upper Norwood Library in a deal with Croydon Council which they claim will safeguard its future. The library had been threatened with closure.

The library had been jointly funded by both councils. Croydon Council’s decision to cut its contribution by £100,000 provoked a strong reaction from the local community and the situation has been carefully monitored by Upper Norwood Library Campaign.

Lambeth Council state that under the agreement Croydon Council will transfer to the library building, staff, and agreed budgets to Lambeth. Lambeth in turn will work with the community-led steering group Upper Norwood Joint Campaign whose aim is to create a new trust which will run the library as “a publicly-funded, professionally staffed service”.

The deal has been welcomed by Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Councillor Sally Prentice.

Cllr Prentice said,

 “I am delighted that Lambeth have been able to save Upper Norwood Library from closure. It’s fantastic news for local residents and guarantees the future of this library which is held in high regard by the community. 

While councils up and down the country are closing libraries, in Lambeth we have protected our libraries and are investing over £7 million in new services, working side by side with the community.”

The detail of the agreement is being negotiated and the transfer of assets from Croydon to Lambeth is scheduled to take place over the next few months.

Lambeth will contribute £170,000 a year to the running of the library.

Although Croydon has always maintained that Lambeth were in the wrong and that it was Lambeth that broke the joint agreement it is interesting to note that Croydon Council has agreed to provide an annual contribution of £75,000, for the next two years, renewable under a three-year funding agreement.

It is doubtful that Croydon would pay a penny more than they were contractually bound to pay.

Did Croydon break the law over library?

Croydon Council stand accused of breaking the law over its joint library agreement with Lambeth, an agreement that Croydon Council terminated.

Croydon’s Labour Leader Tony Newman is quoted,

“We have advice that Croydon cannot unilaterally abandon the joint agreement and we have been told by Lambeth Council that this council has acted illegally.”

Cllr Timothy Godfrey, Labour’s shadow cabinet member responsible holds a letter from the DCMS which he claims indicates that the unique 112 year old Upper Norwood Joint Library agreement between Lambeth and Croydon can only be broken if both councils are in agreement.

Croydon’s chief executive, Jon Rouse, refuted the claims but has agreed to the subject being debated on 2nd July, although what type of meeting this will be is still unclear as the details are not yet available on the council website.

Croydon Advertiser article, May 25 2012

This Croydon Advertiser article also touches on the catalogue of errors in Croydon’s consultation process. We’ll details this in a later post, thanks to the evidence passed to the campaign group by local residents.

Council flouting its legal agreement

Another library article in the local press, still not online so reproduced here.

Croydon Guardian article May 23, 2012 Croydon is accused of flouting its legal agreement to run Upper Norwood Library (UNJL) jointly with Lambeth Council.   Whilst the UNJL consultation document gave the option to keep funding at existing levels, Croydon library campaigners are acutely aware that in the previous consultation on six Croydon libraries, Croydon chose to ignore the ‘do nothing’ option. Will it be the same for Upper Norwood? The options Croydon put to Lambeth before the launch of this consultation certainly do not support continued support from Croydon:  http://www.soslibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/croydons-treatment-of-upper-norwood.html but perhaps most damning is the details Inside Croydon exposed of Croydon’s dealings with Lambeth early on in the process.

Save money by chucking £42K at it, and the rest!

Anyone else find it curious that Cllr Sara Bashford, who gave her assurances that residents would be kept informed of developments on libraries, omitted to mention this position being advertised back in December?

That’s the same Cllr Bashford who assured residents their views would be listened to, yet disregarded the data from parts of the the council consultation document on six libraries as the document was confusing.

The same who took the decision to outsource all 13 libraries on the basis of this flawed consultation, involving just six libraries in any case.

The very same council who got caught out meeting with LSSI before the decision to explore outsourcing was taken.

That’s also the council that have not been able to fully answer FOI requests for the breakdown of responses that Cllr Bashford claims informed the decision to outsource.

The same that assured residents no libraries would close, though since then jointly run Upper Norwood is under threat and then the closure of New Addington was announced. But surely there would be reassurances about how Croydon might provide a service to this area.  Apparently not.  According to the newspaper article Cllr Bashford rubber-stamped the death of New Addington Library without any regard for the space that might be available in the CALAT Centre nor could she give any reassurances about the bookstock that might be accommodated.

Gavin Barwell MP won’t be drawn on the situation, still claiming no library will close.

That’s also the council who have been caught out for not advertising National Libraries Day but then again why would this be any different? Whilst other authorities celebrate libraries and promote the activities they offer Croydon have for some time now been erratic in publicising events, some receiving no publicity at all!

And let’s not forget the great book cull, still continuing to be noted by residents across the borough, which Croydon also failed to mention to residents. Seems less is more.  So Croydon!

The same who kept silent about the shortlisted organisations.

Not a great track record for transparency, is it?

Croydon Libraries bidders named but campaigners’ concerns misrepresented

Save Croydon Libraries Campaign appreciates the Croydon Guardian covering the ongoing saga of Croydon Libraries with a further article on their website today but we do question why they will not engage directly with the campaign group to verify the facts. The same article went into the printed edition, without correction.

No one debates that the local press must have great difficulty verifying the real situation as Cllr Sara Bashford and Croydon Council are almost silent on the matter, pushing through the privatisation of all thirteen libraries, knowingly having only consulted with the users of less than half the libraries in the network.


Since then the Upper Norwood Library run jointly with Lambeth has run into trouble as Croydon no longer wishes to provide funding for it. Cllr Sara Bashford is also quoted in the local press announcing the closure of New Addington library without any planning of the space that might house the ‘replacement’ of this well-used, purpose built library or what book stock might be available.  In her own words, when asked if the new building will house the same number of books as it does presently, Cllr Bashford is quoted as saying she could not make any promises.

“I could not say there will be the same number of books definitely,” she explained.“We do not know what the square footage available will be in comparison with the library.”

How reassuring.

The Save Croydon Libraries Campaign continues to work with and receive information from residents across the borough as well as national campaigners. We can only assume this Croydon Guardian article is based on the information which first appeared on Alan Wylie’s excellent Stop the Privatisation of UK Public Libraries blog on March 20th and in the detailed article by Inside Croydon on March 21, which contains a great deal of research into the organisations involved.


To clarify, Save Croydon Libraries Campaign is not concerned that outsourcing the network of libraries will lead to immediate closure. During the bidding process, Croydon have already altered the plan by announcing the closure of  New Addington. Prior to this there was a drastic reduction in staffing in our libraries and then a huge cull of book stock. Croydon were also caught out by residents and the Bookseller for their woeful lack of activity for National Libraries Day – hard-pushed staff cobbling together some makeshift displays at short notice, to cover up the omission, after the Bookseller article was released. Thanks to residents who have sent us photos and the facts across the borough. In many locations there was nothing to photograph and enquiries met with blank expressions or apologies for not being aware but here is just a sample of the details we were able to record.  Judge for yourself.

 No special activities and leaflets on the board without actual dates for activities, though printed for January to March 2012. What does “one Saturday a month” actually mean and how can people plan to attend if the date is not available?

 Children’s display in a Croydon Library.  Enticing choice of reading matter, don’t you agree? This was taken early on in the day.  The resident straightened the books casually thrown at the display.

 The entrance display was a real treat. UK Citizenship test booklet anyone, or perhaps you fancy brushing up on the Highway Code?

 A children’s display in another library, though no adult display.  At least better than some with no display at all.

And this has to be our favourite.  The only activity that perhaps might have been considered special was author  Monica Carly at Central Library that day.  But can you spot the similarity?  An eagle-eyed resident did and these events are being held at other libraries too. Unfortunately Croydon hold few of local author Monica Carly’s books in stock but that is a minor detail surely!


We’ve already covered the concerns regarding LSSI’s early involvement and their track record in the US and the Inside Croydon article along with Alan Wylie’s blog covers many of the concerns with privatisation of libraries in general and the organisations Croydon have short-listed specifically.


We do not believe residents want external organisations to run our libraries. Why would we want someone else to make a profit from our libraries? We want the local authority to run the service effectively, correctly and to provide the comprehensive service that is not available to many at the moment.


We want staff to work without undue stress, with training and with knowledge of the local communities that they serve. Residents do not want staff to apologise, as they do with great regularity now. Residents are greatly concerned for staff who deliver a service under extreme pressure, often with little or no training. Residents are concerned that we will lose even more of out loyal experienced and qualified staff.


And things could surely not get any worse. We already experience a greatly reduced service in our libraries, and this is nothing new. National campaigners listen to Croydon and are aware of the problems in Croydon.  We really need the local press to back residents on this and expose what is really going on before it is too late.


As always, we remain open to offering the local press all the evidence we have and to put you in touch with a wide range of residents affected across the borough.  National campaigners are aghast when we’ve shared details with them. What do you think Croydon Guardian? Will you afford us the same coverage that is offered to campaign groups elsewhere?


Updated 29/03/12

Upper Norwood Library celebrates National Libraries Day

Whilst Croydon seem a little more than reticent to promote their libraries and the book borrowing on the day Upper Norwood Library are clearly promoting National Libraries Day. There will certainly be enough to do with all the special events on offer. Just take a look here!

The Upper Norwood Library Campaign will have a stalls inside and outside the library. A petition will be available for anyone who has not already signed.

We have covered the plight of Upper Norwood before. Click here for details.
http://soslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/01/croydons-treatment-of-upper-norwood.html

Transparency and Accountability -The faceless, nameless Croydon spokesman speaks

Croydon library users have grown increasingly concerned about books being boxed up across the borough as no one has seen anything quite like it before.  Previously, any unwanted books have been put on public display for sale.

Croydon Council is aware of the concerns and have contributed comments to an article on the Croydon Advertiser website,  Croydon Council denies book sales mean closures. At the point of posting the website is down so we reproduce the article below. 

So let’s examine the facts.

The Advertiser reports that concerns, or as they put it, ‘rumours’, “have reached a crescendo in recent weeks after library users noticed books being sent away from libraries.”

As a campaign group we are not aware of any library users being concerned about books leaving library premises, just a genuine concern about the visible effects of this unprecedented cull of book stock.

The Advertiser claims that a spokesman for the council stated  that the library service has simply changed the way it handles unneeded stock. This unidentified council officer claims that instead of trying to sell unused and tatty books to library users, libraries sell their books to company Revival Books, which recycles or donates the books.

We think this story again demonstrated the Advertiser’s unwavering trust that what they are told by the council is completely true and warrants no further investigation.

Here’s what Revival Books themselves claim to do. You can find Revival Books here: http://www.revivalbooks.co.uk/Site_3/Libraries.html, and we quote,

“We seek to find a second life for as many of the books as possible and we sell these in retail outlets or on the Internet.  Working with a paper recycling partner we recycle any books we do not use and these books are pulped for on-going use.”

So Revival Books do not, as the Advertiser claims to have been told by this faceless, nameless council spokesperson, just recycle or donate the books that they collect.  Where is the economic sense in that? Their prime motive is to sell off, for profit, any book stock they can through a network of retail outlets and on the internet. And if you click here you can see a list of all those currently for sale.

It’s not just the new practice of boxing up stock that is concerning residents, it is the sheer scale of the exercise that is causing alarm, evidenced by the appearance of rows of empty shelves in some branches and the complete removal of carousels, previously packed full of paperbacks, in at least one library. 

The Advertiser goes on to report that this faceless, nameless spokesperson claimed that,

 “the new approach generates money and means none of the books has to go to landfill.”

Surely this is a terrible admission that the council have been dumping all their excess books in landfill sites whilst expecting residents to recycle. Did the reporter not think to question this?

The faceless, nameless council spokesman goes on to offer,

“There aren’t going to be any closures. There are clearly some people out there who are deliberately trying to raise concerns by getting library users needlessly worried about non-existent library closure plans.”

Croydon Library Campaigners were first to break this story and we know residents have made direct contact with the Advertiser to pass information to them.  Why is it that the Advertiser declines to speak with the residents and campaigners highlighting these issues and swallows completely the clearly flawed offerings of a council spokesperson who is clearly unwilling even to be identified?

Let’s not forget either that it was the Advertiser who broke the story of New Addington Library closing, which we have already covered here http://soslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/01/no-libraries-closing-in-croydon-hip-hip.html. How can the same paper print something that directly contradicts their own exclusive about the New Addington closure?

The Advertiser is also the same paper to report positive progress on Upper Norwood Joint Library, which we covered here. Given the evidence it seems this is anything but the case.

And we also put our questions to Cllr Bashford, where we covered the issue of the concerns on the massive cull of book stock, which we reproduce again here:

Certainly the book stock being removed is not being replaced with anything like a similar volume of new stock.  No wonder residents and campaigners are concerned, and rightly so. 

If the council really wishes to allay residents’ fears wouldn’t the easiest option be to give residents clear and correct information?  

No wonder this council spokesperson wished to remain nameless. Shouldn’t this coyness to be named, coupled with all the glaring flaws in what he had to offer, have given rise to caution before the Advertiser went on to print yet more incorrect information?  We certainly think so. 

Croydon denies intention to sell its share of Upper Norwood Library

Croydon’s treatment of Upper Norwood Joint Library has appeared in the Evening Standard today. You can read the article here: Legal row ‘an excuse to close Library’

The article reports that Upper Norwood Library’s future is in doubt after Croydon pulled out of the agreement in place to fund the library jointly with Lambeth. Croydon funding will only last until April 2012. 

The article also reports that,

“Local residents claim Croydon wants to sell its share of the building – an allegation denied by the council.”

But who denied this claim?  The proposition put to Lambeth was very clear, as we outlined in an earlier post. 

1. Buy Croydon’s half share of all UNJL assets and accept responsibility for the UNJL.
2.  Take a lease of Croydon’s half share in the premises and become solely responsible for the UNJL.
3. Agree that the library will be sold with the proceeds, after settlement of all costs, equally divided between the two boroughs.

Deidre Mahon, a member of the Upper Norwood Library Campaign group is quoted in the Evening Standard article, 

“This is about a disagreement between two councils and they’re using a legal agreement to get out of providing a community library….Croydon have asked their valuers to go in and be discreet about it and plan to sell their share. If Croydon walks away and there are no alternative monies to fund the shortfall there’s no way the library can stay open.”

This certainly accords with Inside Croydon’s account of events, which includes the text of a letter sent by Croydon’s CEO, Jon Rouse, to his Lambeth counterpart, outline just such a plan.


What possible motive would Croydon have for setting out such a plan and then undertaking a valuation exercise of the freehold of the property and its assets, at an estimated cost of £6,500, if they do not intend to act on this? Rouse’s letter makes clear that Croydon are still pursuing the options of selling off the library or of leasing the building for three years only, with an option to buy at the end of the lease. 

At no point does there seem to be any mention of Croydon exploring any other options other than cutting and running.

Questions for Cllr Sara Bashford

We wrote of our doubts regarding the veracity of this article in the Croydon Advertiser only yesterday.

You can read it here. 


Were we just a little cynical, we wondered?  But then  this seemingly unrelated article in the Streatham Guardian was brought to our attention, regarding the full Lambeth Council meeting, held on Wednesday 25th January 2012. 


Here, amongst the other details of council business and the plight of Streatham Library, 
is this statement,  

“Councillors also approved a motion condemning Conservatives at Croydon Council for their decision to withdraw funding the Upper Norwood Library, which is jointly run by both councils.”

No wonder Cllr Sara Bashford was so keen to give the Croydon Advertiser another Croydon Council “exclusive” on libraries, trying to spin things in a more positive light.

Can Lambeth really be getting things so very wrong? Has Croydon really reversed its decision to withdraw from the management of Upper Norwood Joint Library, along with withdrawing any further financial support? We doubt it.

We will publish any comment Cllr Sara Bashford chooses to provide to make clear the situation. She has not engaged with campaigners so far but we remain open to hearing from her.  Let us and all Croydon residents know the real situation please, Cllr Bashford.

• What is the current situation with regard to Upper Norwood Joint Library and what financial commitment has been made, if any, post April 2012?

• And what is the exact situation with Croydon libraries in general? 

You gave the message that all libraries were reprieved, there would be no closures, but word reaches us that New Addington is to close.  It will be shoe-horned into limited space in the CALAT (Adult Ed) Centre, along with the Job Centre, an existing nursery and CALAT (who campaigners were told knew of the loss of half their teaching space of six classrooms BEFORE the consultation results were made public or move announced). It has been reported that you, as cabinet member with responsibility for libraries, took this decision without knowing what space might be available to accommodate the library. You could also not make any commitment as to to the level of  book stock that might be available in the new setting – suspected to be the foyer area with revolving door, making it unsuitable as insecure for those with young children.

A local group ‘New Addington Pathfinders’ seem to be allaying fears of concerned residents by advising that library users can order any book they desire. This has not been the case since at least April 2011, as some have already pointed out.  Added to this, any reservation from within the Croydon libraries network attracts a charge of £1.10 – quite a tall price to pay for a free public library service – not only pay for the privilege of reserving a book you wish to borrow because it is not held in your library but with the added cost in time in the delay accessing the item required. Some residents report delays of six to eight weeks, including books showing as being in stock in another Croydon library. If this policy has been amended we are sure Croydon residents will be delighted.

And why is the book stock being boxed up, across the borough?  Is it true that the lure of selling off stock at 10p an item to an external company, who will sell on what they can, and recycle what they can’t, really the prime motive?  Is it a tactic to reduce the book stock to pave the way, as a sweetener, for those bidders who are successful in procuring the service, to allow them to make the claims to have improved the book stock of the service, as they will be able to regarding the now depleted permanent staffing? Or is it really a promoting of Croydon Libraries, that “less is more” – less choice leads to more borrowing?  Very interesting thinking indeed.  We have to share with you that this particular ‘strategy’ has elicited quite a bit of amusement, indeed belly-laugh, laugh out loud moments! – If only it were not such a serious issue, Cllr Bashford.

We are offering you the opportunity to speak with us, negotiate, communicate and give a clear position to Croydon. Please take up our offer.

If you would like Cllr Bashford to speak frankly, maybe you might like to prompt her by requesting she respond to this post.  You can email her at: sara.bashford@croydon.gov.uk

And do let us know how you get on.  Feel free to BCC or CC us in at soslibrary@hotmail.co.uk or add your comments here.

Please remember to add a name to your posts.  It adds more weight!

Upper Norwood – History to Current Crisis

The following information is provided by Upper Norwood Library Campaign as background to the Upper Norwood Library situation, now at crisis point.


Since opening in 1900, Upper Norwood library has been jointly and equally funded by Croydon and Lambeth Councils.

In response to a number of funding crises in the early 2000’s, a legal agreement (UNJL Agreement) between the two funding boroughs was put in place in 2006 to secure funding and a management structure for the library until 2014. Under this agreement, both borough councils were entitled to have at least two local ward councillors on the management board.


Until 2010 Croydon Council honoured this and the management board consisted of cross-party reps and members of the community.  From 2010 Croydon Council chose NOT to include local ward councillors instead, they placed councillors from the furthest reaches of the borough who, even with the best will in the world, weren’t ever going to represent the area as well as local councillors. 

Of course this riled both locals and the Lambeth Councillors and many efforts were made to discuss this with Croydon Council in a fair and open manner.  Croydon Council did not respond responsibly and instead chose to play petty party politics at the expense of a strong willed and galvanised community.   Lambeth Council felt strongly enough not to take part in the AGM of 2010 and 2011.  In fact, it was advised that the presence of non-local ward councillors would render the meeting inquorate.

It is alleged that, being totally aware of the situation, Croydon Council knowingly and shamelessly mislead the local community at the aborted 2011 AGM.  In fact the Upper Norwood campaign group claim that Cllr Sara Bashford, the Croydon Council Member of Cabinet,  has repeatedly misled the community and Lambeth Council on this matter.

In October 2011 (following the aborted 2011 AGM), Croydon determined to withdraw from the agreement and in doing so would cut funding at the end of this financial year (March 2012) leaving the library with a shortfall of required revenues of around £200K. Under the UNJL Agreement, if either party breaches it, they are not obligated to serve the mandatory 12 month notice period. 

So why did Croydon Council (in October 2011) determine that it would no longer fund its 50% share? 


It has cited that Lambeth Council has breached a legal agreement (the UNJL Agreement) by non- attendance at the 2010 and 2011 AGMs.  Lambeth has for two years been advising Croydon Council that it is in breach by not allowing local ward councillors to sit on the Management Board.  Campaigners maintain what is certain is that in the middle of all of this petty political point scoring and schoolboy debate is a society of decent folk being crushed by a few self-serving council officials who have not shown any respect to the community over this issue.  Rather, campaigners claim, they have displayed contempt and total arrogance.

Since 2010, Croydon Council has not acted in the interests of its residents (42.5% of library members are Croydon residents – the largest percentage of library users) or the wider Upper Norwood Community.  If it had, it would have at least allowed local ward councillors representation on the library management board or could have explained why it felt it appropriate NOT to do so despite the UNJL Agreement.  Even the least cynical amongst us would question the motive in this behaviour. Everything we now know about the outsourcing of their library service points to a carefully played exit strategy.  By claiming that Lambeth has breached the agreement, they can walk away without the requirement to serve 12 months’ notice. 

Since Croydon’s announcement, Lambeth Council has, with the backing of the local community, sought to negotiate a future for the library with Croydon Council.  Lambeth has put forward various options but these have not been acknowledged by Croydon Council.  Rather, Croydon seems to be resolute in realising their financial assets from the library come what may. This is evidenced in recent correspondence to Lambeth Council, in which they ask Lambeth to carry out valuation works “discreetly” and that there is a “real prospect that the library will close”. This issue has been dealt with in detail on Inside Croydon who have received details of this correspondence. You can find details here: http://insidecroydon.com/2012/01/16/rouse-tells-lambeth-to-plan-closure-of-library-in-secret/

This is symptomatic of their approach to the community of Upper Norwood. To illustrate the behaviours of these councillors:  a group of community members attended the most recent Croydon Council Cabinet meeting in December 2011.  As a local Ward Councillor took his opportunity to address the cabinet on the subject, we saw the senior Croydon Cabinet members (including Cllr Mike Fisher – Leader Croydon Council) literally laughing in the face of the impassioned cause of the councillor who was representing the views and opinions of the community which he serves.  Is this really acceptable behaviour of elected councillors or indeed, civil servants?

Furthermore, on the day that it made their announcement to withdraw funding, Croydon Council sent an army of clipboard staff into the library to audit everything and everyone.  This was the first the staff had heard of the situation.

Useful statistics and other information:

1.       Breakdown of library users by the 5 Borough Councils that serve the Upper Norwood area: Bromley 14.3% Croydon 42.5% Lambeth 30.5% Lewisham 3.5% Southwark 8.5%

2.       Croydon Council is seeking to save £25m in costs this year and according to Cllr Fisher that “the majority of these costs come from efficiencies”. Of the 150 headcount loss across the council, the hardest hit department is Children, Learning and Families Department which stands to lose 88 posts. This means that the Upper Norwood Joint Library represents at least 11.9% of this headcount loss which is staggering given the size of the borough compared with our small community. Initial budget papers outlining costs savings were agreed at Croydon Cabinet meeting on 12th December.

3.       The nearest alternative libraries are not within walking distance which represents a real problem of access for children, elderly, disabled and infirm people. 

4.       Not all town centres have Town Halls and with the absence of either, where would the centre of community exist for our Big Society? There is no Town Hall in Upper Norwood or within walking distance.

5.       The library is heavily used by job seekers – there is no alternative space for this user group in Upper Norwood.

6.       Various campaign activities have taken place including sending a Model Letter to those below: Cllr Mike Fisher, Leader Croydon Council : mike.fisher@croydon.gov.uk Mr Jon Rouse,Croydon Chief Executive: jon.rouse@croydon.gov.uk Cllr Steve Reed, Leader Lambeth Council: sreed@lambeth.gov.uk Derrick Anderson CBE, Lambeth Chief Executive: danderson@lambeth.gov.uk Val Shawcross AM, GLA: valerie.shawcross@london.gov.uk Malcolm Wicks MP: malcolm.wicks.mp@parliament.uk Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP: jowellt@parlliament.uk

7.       There is significant support for the campaign witnessed through on and offline petitions, social media presence, link up with other library campaigns, support from authors and high profile supporters of library services amongst others.

You can follow the campaign on twitter at @saveUNlibrary and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/269577509754920/