An open letter to the leader of Somerset County Council

I have spent a miserable afternoon writing this letter, and another to the Secretary of State for Culture. I have posted the one to the leader of Somerset County Council below in the hope that if anyone else is in the uneviable position of having to express similar concerns to their councillors, it will help show you that you're not alone, and maybe give you some inspiration.

Feel free to adapt it for your own use. If you want to post it on your site, please link back here so that any comments can be seen and so that I can link back to your site with a pingback too.

Dear Mr Maddock,

I am writing to express my concern over the proposal to close Shepton Mallet library. This would cause irreparable damage to a town already on its knees and would have an incredibly negative impact on our vulnerable community.

I hope the strength, passion and desire to fight this proposal was adequately conveyed to you by John Osman who attended the meeting in Shepton Mallet on Friday night. I'd like to highlight some of the opinions expressed at that meeting, and my own observations.



The consultation process has been woefully inadequate

Right from the date of the announcement on the 16th of December (so conveniently close to Christmas that it cut out at least a fortnight of viable time for the public to respond) through to the fact that none of the consultation roadshows bothered to come to Shepton Mallet even though ours is one of the libraries slated for closure.



Doubts over the validity of the data being taken into consideration

For example, we were told that the number of people using the library, and their book withdrawals was used to determine how "busy" the library is. In my own household, my husband is the full-time parent and takes my son to the library every week. My husband withdraws books on his ticket that we both read – therefore my use of the library is not factored into your calculations. I wonder how many other households in Shepton share the use of a library card, thinking that it would be the most efficient way to enjoy those books and have the least impact on the service so others can enjoy the books too. Had I known, I would have been certain to make separate trips and created more work for everyone.

Lack of detail regarding alternatives

We're threatened with closure, but alternatives seem to have been grouped under a vague sense of "or run it yourselves" with no detail, practical advice or information to help us work out an alternative. Running a library requires trained staff and is more complex than book withdrawals and shelf-stacking.

Library provision in Wells, Frome and Street is NOT close enough

To quote the consultation document, Shepton Mallet has "a fairly busy library with a fairly big catchment area. Three major libraries would be provided within Mendip District (Frome, Street and Wells)." I wonder if the person who wrote this lives in Shepton Mallet. I doubt it, and I also doubt they depend upon public transport.

To catch the bus to Wells (the nearest town) costs £5 round trip per person and the service is infrequent. That too is also soon to be cut and subsidies substantially reduced. It is simply not viable for the most vulnerable families who don't have cars to pay £10 (assuming only one person is going to library) to borrow the books and then return them.

One of the few services left in Shepton Mallet

In addition, Shepton Mallet town centre needs the footfall the library attracts. At the meeting on Friday we were told the library has 300 visitors a day. The town centre is already struggling to survive. Close the library and you kill the town. Perhaps it would be seen by those who don't live here as a coup de grace. I can assure you it is not.

Closing Shepton Mallet's library to save money in the short-term is a horrifically short-sighted approach. It provides a critical service to our community, its success in encouraging reading amongst the young is superlative, with hundreds of children participating in reading schemes. Those without home internet access depend on it, the same people who doubtless won't be able to travel to other libraries should ours close.

I could write pages more about the reasons why our library shouldn't be closed. If it comes down to cold numbers at the end of the day then I ask you this:

If you save just under £80,000 in one year by shutting our library, how much will it cost to:

• Lose money in business rates when the last shops hanging on in the centre close due to reduction in footfall

• Police a town in which the young, having been cut off from the love of learning and any connection to their town centre in their childhood, seek thrills elsewhere

• Provide mental health services to those who have become isolated without the social contact provided in their library

• Provide income support and benefits to those who are unable to find work as they can't afford to travel to other towns and use the free internet access there, the staff associated with the library and all the people who will lose their jobs when the town dies

And if short-sightedness that impacts upon our town isn't going to sway you, then perhaps I can demonstrate how short-sightedness can be applied to your own career prospects? I wonder if you, and indeed this current government can have a hope in hell of winning the next election campaign when you have to try and persuade the voters to forget that it was YOU and YOUR COUNCIL who cut the heart out of our town.

Cut wasteful administration costs in the Council, negotiate better rates with suppliers, negotiate a better deal on the leasehold (currently £30,000 a year), reduce hours across the whole of Somerset libraries to share what is left of the funding across the entire county, help us to make up the shortfall in funding – all of these are preferable to pulling the plug on Shepton Mallet's library – and indeed the town centre itself.

Emma Newman