By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
Campaigners say it is “disrespectful” that the fate of three under-threat Nottingham City Council libraries has been left hanging for almost a year.
The Labour-run authority says it is now planning to make a final decision on Radford-Lenton Library, Aspley Library and Basford Library at an Executive Board meeting on January 17.
The council had proposed to close the libraries as part of budget proposals to save £79,000 per year.
A campaign against the closures from Save Nottingham Libraries followed and the ruling Labour Group voted to save all three during a private meeting on November 7.
Labour members had been voting on the axing of Basford Library, but it was saved by 21 votes to 19, and Labour councillors must now abide by the decision or risk losing their whip.
Although the authority is Labour-dominated, the vote on November 7 was not an official council decision, but an indication of the ruling group’s wishes.
A final council decision was to be made during a public Executive Board meeting on November 22, but this never materialised, and it was then expected to be discussed in December.
However the item was again omitted from the meeting agenda on December 20, and campaigners held a demonstration outside Loxley House.
One of the campaigners, Sian Steans, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “They said that they would be saved during the Labour Group meeting, we know what happened in the Labour Group meeting.
“In January it will have been a year. That has been a year hanging over the heads of our communities.
“There have been no apologies. It is disrespectful.”
A City Council spokesman said: “We had planned to take a report on the Libraries Transformation proposals to November’s Executive Board for a final decision.
“This is an important decision which needs to take account of all the feedback we received during the consultation that we undertook earlier this year.
“It is essential that a final report is as comprehensive as possible to allow good decision making to take place.
“We are still working on preparing the full range of options for the Executive Board to consider.
“It is currently planned to go to the meeting of the Executive Board taking place on January 17.”
