Labour fear this could mean Parks – and other Swindon Libraries – being run by a commercial organisation. The Council plans to save money on its libraries budget. it wants libraries to make money to pay towards their own operating costs through commercial activities.
Labour are opposing this plan. We believe libraries should be about learning, information, recreation and community not making money!
The council does not have a good track record with previous ventures of this nature – SEQOL for example. We are concerned that the tendering process to create a Public Sector Mutual for libraries would make it difficult for staff- or local- led bid to compete with a bid from a big national group who might not be committed to maintaining local libraries for the communities who use them.