Warrington library could close as part of bid to save £30m
A Cheshire library could close as council bosses look to make more than £30m of savings, while others could become completely self-service.Warrington Council is seeking to close Westbrook Library and also introduce a tiered system, which would see some libraries employing paid staff for fewer hours while others would have no on-site staff at all.Elsewhere, the council said it had revised some of its proposed parking charges in parts of the town following feedback.The council said it was having to make "the most difficult decisions" about the services it provides.
Warrington currently has 13 libraries.The authority said it was looking to close Westbrook because it was the only one not within a council building so it had to pay rent.It also had a "lower performance" compared with other libraries, the council said.
In terms of the planned tier system, Warrington Central Library would be a tier one library, meaning no changes would be planned.Libraries in Burtonwood, Padgate and Penketh would be tier two community libraries, with council staff there at all times.Tier three would be community supported libraries where staffing would be "streamlined" to reduced hours, and these would be in Culcheth, Lymm and Stockton Heath.Libraries in Bewsey and Dallam, Birchwood, Great Sankey, Orford, and Woolston would become self-service, without "dedicated" library staff, the authority said.Tony Higgins, cabinet member for communities, culture and leisure, said: "Our current position means we have no choice but to look across all service areas, including libraries."While we are very proud to have retained so many libraries, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a high-quality library service across so many sites."
Elsewhere, Warrington Council said it had changed its plans around parking in Lymm and Stockton Heath after a consultation.The council said it will now keep longer free parking periods in both areas.In Lymm this would include keeping the first hour free parking at all times, although it said there was to be a "modest uplift" to the original proposed charges.In Stockton Heath, where the plans were to have the first 15 minutes free between 9:00-17:00 and the first hour free between 17:00-22:00, the council said it will provide 30 minutes free between 15:00 and 22:00.A consultation on the library proposals runs until 9 May.
See more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Failure 'not an option' says Derbyshire's new anti-waste chief
Reform UK's new efficiency chief in Derbyshire says the party's flagship anti-waste agenda will pull the council's finances "back from the brink", despite admitting there is "limited scope" for savings in the County Council has a net budget spend of roughly £770m and debt levels in the region of £400m. Its current budget plans - formed under the previous Conservative leaders - include a deficit of well over £30m, largely due to pressures on adult and children's social care and special educational is one of only a few of Reform's new councils that has made its efficiency drive into a formal cabinet position. John Lawson, the newly elected Breaston councillor who has a background in finance, will be leading the county's "Doge" drive, modelled after the Department of Government Efficiency previously overseen by Elon Musk in the says formalising the position in Derbyshire is part of a "concerted effort" to stop the council from going into special measures, which would be the "direction of travel" without their efforts."[The council] is in significant debt's not really the problem. The problem we see is the increase in runaway expenditure. The operating expenses of running the council," he said."The position we inherited was a council spending beyond its means." Rather than making cuts and slashing expenditure, the party's focus will be on making spending more efficient and effective with existing efficiency by 10% is seen as an achievable target over the course of the next few years, and while it is unclear how exactly this will be measured, attempting to maintain existing levels of spending against a backdrop of rising costs and demand will be the broad aim. Lawson says that in the past two years, the council has spent £238m more than it anticipated it would have to, roughly a 15 - 20% overspend, which he says cannot be wholly explained by rising costs and other external and assessing council contracts, as well as combing through the council's operating costs, are seen as a prime target for where efficiencies can be found. However, the former administration's budget plans passed by the council in February will be adhered to for the rest of the financial year."We're not looking to make any savings over and above that, other than the small savings that we've already made, because we're just still understanding where we are," Lawson said."Hopefully we can make more savings but I can't promise anything at the moment."If you come back in six months time hopefully we've managed to find £10m we can save, but I doubt that will be the case simply because we know that there have been cost pressures."Having said that, we know that over the last two years the Conservative administration massively overspent, so if we can rein some of that in then possibly we can make some savings."He rejected any suggestion the party had underestimated the scale of the difficulty in finding efficiencies. "70% of the council's spend is spent on very vulnerable there's very limited scope for reducing spend, but that doesn't mean it can't be done," he said. However, the finance director admitted the party had overestimated figures put out recently claiming to have made around £88,000 of savings in its first two weeks in power, or £6,000 a day."We'll hold our hands up - we made a mistake there, was just a miscalculation", says Lawson, claiming the figure is more like £4,000 a day and about £60,000 worth of savings on councillor allowances and other small scale parties have used the "minute" figures to claim that the party's Doge agenda has been "discredited", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service."I'm grateful that our colleagues in the Tories and the Greens have actually pointed out we are saving money," Lawson said. Morale concern While job cuts are not being ruled out, Lawson says employee headcount will not be reduced in the short term with the potential exception of "small teams".However, it is possible staff pension schemes will be looked at, which the deputy leader of the party Richard Tice has criticised for being "unaffordable"."There's no doubt that defined benefit pension schemes have unfortunately become very expensive to operate," Lawson said."Ultimately, we haven't got a magic money tree, and we have to bear that in mind with future contracts." Leaders also think productivity can be tackled by "improving staff morale", which Lawson says is "on the floor". But the emphasis will be an ongoing mindset shift to the council's approach to its spending, rather than a "slash and cut" mentality in order to achieve the party's aims."We're very focused. We were elected on a ticket of change," Lawson says, rejecting the idea that recent turmoil at the top of the party will hinder their efforts for delivering Doge on the ground."We were elected by the people of Derbyshire to try to essentially instil some common sense into the management of council services. Failure is not an option." The leader of Derbyshire Conservatives Alex Dale predicts Reform UK will fail to "live up to their own hype" and says the Conservatives had left the council's budget "in a far stronger position than it was two years ago"."It's becoming increasingly clear that running a council of this scale and with these challenges is far more complex than Reform UK claimed during the election campaign and so it's little wonder they're getting their excuses in early now," he said."We'll be holding them to account for every promise they made and every decision they now take, on behalf of Derbyshire residents."
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Ben Fordham unleashes withering spray as Albanese fails to meet housing target because of immigration
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government has been slammed by radio host Ben Fordham over Australia's worsening housing crisis. It follows the release of a report from the Government's National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (NHSAC), showing Australia will miss its own housing targets. According to the report, housing construction is at its lowest point in a decade, with just 177,000 new dwellings completed in 2024, well short of the government's 233,000 target. The Council warned that housing is not being built quickly enough to meet growing demand and relieve affordability pressures. 'The Council's analysis shows that expected new housing supply will be insufficient to meaningfully improve housing affordability for all households,' the report stated. It forecasts that only 938,000 new dwellings will be completed across Australia over the five-year Housing Accord period ending 30 June 2029, far below the 1.2 million target. No state or territory is expected to meet its allocated share. On Thursday, Fordham lashed out at the government, blaming slow building rates and rising immigration for exacerbating the crisis. 'The Albanese government promised to build more houses, today they're building less. They promised to lower immigration, today, they're bringing in more,' he said. 'The PM will tell us he's bringing down the migration numbers... and building as many homes as he can, but we're not seeing it.' 'We simply can't build the houses fast enough. What we need is a sharp focus on skilled migration and coordination of housing supply policy with immigration numbers.' The NHSAC report also pointed to persistent challenges such as labour shortages, low productivity, and rising material costs as major factors dragging down new supply. Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Senator Andrew Bragg, has slammed at Labor's performance, saying the government had failed to support the very people responsible for delivering new housing. 'Labor has failed to get the houses built because they have done nothing to help the people who build houses: builders, tradespeople and developers,' Bragg said. He further highlighted that the government's flagship $10billion Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) failed to deliver a single new home during the previous term. 'Instead, it was acquiring existing housing, thereby making the supply problem worse... Labor's Housing Infrastructure Fund also failed to build any homes with $1.5 billion,' he added. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil last week pointed to bureaucracy as a major barrier to construction. 'It's just too hard to build a house in this country,' O'Neil told the ABC. 'And it's become uneconomic to build the kind of housing that our country needs most: affordable housing, especially for first home buyers.' One person arrives to Australia to live every 44 seconds according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Under the Albanese government, overseas migration reached record highs. In 2022–23, net overseas migration hit 536,000, the highest in Australia's history. While in 2023–24, it dropped to 446,000, and is expected to fall to 340,000 in 2024–25. As of March 2025, the national median dwelling price surpassed $1million for the first time, reaching $1,002,500, following a 0.7 per cent quarterly increase. The annual growth rate slowed to 5.9 per cent in March 2025, down from 9.5% the previous year New data about Australia's migration will be released on Friday.
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Daily Record
Kilmarnock multi-storey car park demolition makes progress
The car park is expected to be removed by the end of July. The demolition of the multi-storey car park in Kilmarnock is continuing to make progress despite a number of complex issues hitting work. The structure is expected to be removed by the end of July with work to tidy up the site being undertaken throughout August. East Ayrshire Council has set up a Foregate Business Continuity Fund to support firms affected by ongoing work, which will provide targeted help to local eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses directly impacted by the multi-storey closure and demolition works. The fund aims to support those most affected by providing short-term financial assistance to help sustain business operations. The council's Economic Growth staff are also meeting the affected local traders to set out the grant proposals, eligibility criteria and evidence needed when submitting the online grant. The council has now been informed that its application to the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund in respect of enhancements to public realm and active travel works once the car park is demolished has been unsuccessful. It is working with the contractor to finalise the works they will undertake as part of the demolition contract whilst exploring opportunities for wider town centre regeneration which will incorporate this area. Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of the Council, said: "We're very aware of the continued impact that the demolition has had on footfall within the immediate vicinity of the Foregate and the Council has supported businesses at this time through the introduction of the Foregate Business Continuity Fund. I would encourage customers to continue to support the local businesses. "The contractor has reassured us that all possible measures have been put in place to meet the revised completion date while recognising that health and safety remains the first priority. "This work is part of a huge multi-million pound regeneration of Kilmarnock that has included investment in the bus station, the planned refurbishment and modernisation of the Palace Theatre and Grand Hall, refurbishment of the Galleon Leisure Centre as well as developing further enhancements to the public realm and road network."
