Tag: Libraries

Kinsghill Parking Changes Following on from the Council’s recent consultation with residents of Sunnyside Avenue, Dunsford Close, Hillside Avenue and Bowood Road, I can report that the Council has considered people’s responses and produced plans for a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), which residents in these areas should be aware of.   The Council received a number of objections to the proposed TRO and they are now in the process of obtaining a decision from the Cabinet Member responsible for Parking…

You Did it! Thank you to all of you across Parks and beyond who joined the forum and Save Swindon Libraies campaign. The Council has confirmed that Parks library will remain funded by the council.  A huge victory to us all who care passionately for our library service and the communities in which we live. The hours will be reduced to just 15 but at a time when many, including Liden are being closed, this is good news for Parks….

 Over the last few weeks the people of Swindon will have seen the reasons why our town desperately needs a change of administration. In the last two weeks we have discovered that Ofsted deem Swindon Council’s education system as “failing at all levels”; that the Council have put on notice of closure most of Swindon’s community libraries; and the town’s road network has become gridlocked because of the shabby work the Council did on Bruce Street Bridges. We also learnt…

Labour Cllrs Steve Allsopp and Fay Howard proposed a motion to allow the Save Parks Petition to be heard after the Council Leader David Renard had originally ruled that the petition could not be read at the Council meeting. The petiton, organised by Parks Community Forum, had collected over 1100 signatures calling for the library to be saved. Martin Wicks from the Forum was allowed to speak after Labour called for normal procedure to be suspended. He told the council:…

The Parks and East Walcot Community Forum launched a campaign last month to Save Park Library from potential closure under the new proposal for Swindon’s libraries. The Parks campaign is fully supported by the Save Swindon’s Libraries campaign group. Petitions are out for signature in businesses on Cavendish Square for the remainder of the month. The Save Park Library petition calls upon the Council to amend their proposal only to continue funding to four of Swindon’s 15 libraries after June…

Libraries In our last article we mentioned Swindon Council’s plan to reduce Swindon libraries to just four, with the closure of both Liden and Park South libraries unless volunteers are found. We can now advise that consultation events will be taking place to allow you to have your say on Swindon Borough Council’s new library strategy. Within our area these are Mon, 5th Sept (11am-3pm) at Parks Library and Weds, 7th Sept (10am-2pm) at Liden Library.  The consultation ends on…

Park library is under threat of closure. Swindon Council is proposing to end funding for Park and 10 other Libraries. They are want to reduce the library service to just four, Central, West Swindon, North Swindon and Highworth.  This is under consultation until  September 30th. The Parks &  East Walcot Community Forum is calling on the Council to include Park Library as part of the core service, with the provision of professional staff, IT and books.  As your local councillors,…

Town Gardens Work on the replacement footbridge is due to start on site on 5 September. Speeding Residents are still reporting cars speeding across 20mph areas in Old Town. If you are interested in taking part in a Community Speed Watch group, please let us know. Wichelstowe The legal agreement with Barratt Developments for Middle & West Wichel should be completed in August. A secondary school is planned to open in Middle Wichel in Sept 2018. Old Town Library Old…

Local councillors Steve Allsopp, Abdul Amin and Emma Bushell are concerned and disappointed at the council’s plans to cut branch libraries across Swindon. Under current proposals both Walcot and Parks libraries are under threat of closure. The next stage of the council's library consultation begins August 1st You can register your views with the council online through this link www.swindon.gov.uk/librariesfuture Local drop-in consultation meetings scheduled for Parks Library : Mon Sep 5th 11.00am-3.00pm Walcot Library: Wed Sep 21st 9.30am -…

The revised Libraries Strategy accepted by Cabinet on 13 July makes no mention of the Mobile Library Service.  When I asked what was to become of it I got the following reply: "In the proposed strategy the mobile library would be discontinued and resource would be provided to support the expansion of the home library service if appropriate.   The large majority of mobile library users come from the urban areas of town and will fall within the 2 mile…

Community libraries in Swindon are facing closure from June 2017, after the Council agreed to strip funding and the professional servicing of these libraries. Under the new proposals, the Central Library will be staffed for 47.5 hours a week and Highworth, West Swindon and North Swindon will be staffed for 15 hours. If those other libraries wish to remain beyond 3 hours for 5 days a week, volunteers or another community organisation will have to step in. The following libraries…

The Conservative plan for the complete removal of funding from all but central library will be catastrophic for ALL libraries in Swindon, including West Swindon Library. Volunteers are fantastic but they simply cannot replace professional staff. We know this from what's happened to Walcot library, currently the only volunteer-run library in Swindon: Since the volunteers have taken over, the lending rate has plummeted from 14,000 items to only 4,000. I would hate to see the same thing happen to West…