The Enfield Over 50s Forum has added its voice to the campaign against Enfield Council's proposals to close eight smaller libraries. It has launched a petition calling on the council to instead make use of community libraries to 'protect, serve and strengthen' the borough’s neighbourhoods and communities.
Window decorations by Dan Maier at Southgate library, one of eight which the council is proposing to close. Other local libraries under threat are Winchmore Hill and Bowes Road
The Over 50s Forum is asking both its members and other Enfield residents to sign the petition:
Flourishing libraries support flourishing communities, please sign. And share on behalf of young and old, vulnerable and excluded, parents and carers who need vibrant, sociable, safe community spaces that offer warmth in winter, are cool in summer and are free for all to use
The Forum's intervention comes after the council launched a consultation on a draft library strategy intended primarily to cut expenditure by closing the smaller libraries, but which would also see improved services at the remaining larger libraries.
Chinelo Anyanwu, cabinet member for environment, culture, and public spaces, has stated that the proposals are “informed by analysis on the use of the libraries, the needs of the community in different parts of the borough, the accessibility of [each] library building, feedback from the first phase of engagement from stakeholders, and the operation and maintenance cost of each library building”.
However, the closures have met with opposition not only from the Conservative group on the council, but also from the Labour MP for Enfield North, Feryal Clark.
The Over 50s Forum's petition can be signed online on the council website. The opening paragraph reads:
We the undersigned petition the Council to
1. Reject the proposal to reduce the number of libraries by closing Bullsmoor, Enfield Highway, Enfield Island Village, Bowes Road, Southgate, Winchmore Hill, Oakwood and John Jackson
2. Use the post consultation period to properly examine the impact of the proposed closures on older people, the young, those with disabilities, those who are learning English, those who need and provide care, those excluded digitally and those who are lonely and isolated, those who need protection from the cold in winter and the heat in summer.
3. Develop instead a plan to realise the full potential of a network of inclusive community libraries to protect, serve and strengthen Enfield’s neighbourhoods and communities.
The petition text goes on to set out detailed arguments why the proposals would have the impacts listed in para 2 above. It concludes by arguing that the borough "need[s] forward-looking solutions capable of transforming our assets not simply selling them off" and calling for "a radical and creative re-consideration dedicated to the future of our children and grandchildren and to respect and consideration for older residents".
Links
Enfield Over 50s Forum petition to Keep Enfield’s libraries open
Library consultation - Draft library strategy (Deadline for responding: 14 November 2024)
Enfield North MP ‘extremely disappointed’ at council library closures (Enfield Dispatch 13 September 2024)
Labour and Tories blame each other for plan to close eight Enfield libraries (Enfield Dispatch 19 September 2024)