Hove Library move halted by Greens

PRESS STATEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  

Hove Library move halted by Greens

Labour delays decision on Hove Library move

April 26th 2016

 

The Labour Council’s plans to move Hove Library have been put on hold this week, in response to an amendment drawn up by Green Councillors, which was due to be tabled ahead of a meeting of the Policy and Resources committee on Thursday .

 

The amendment was proposed by Greens. Greens had to work with the Conservative Group of Councillors to call on the Labour council to commit to suspend the Hove Library move. As the Green Group said only last week: “It’s a sad state of affairs when we must save libraries from Labour.” (1)

 

Read more: The proposal also included re-evaluating a range of options for maintaining library service in the much loved Hove library Carnegie building.

 

In the amendment, Councillors said the current business case for moving Hove library to Hove Museum has a number of “flaws and inconsistencies”, and said a number of creative alternatives for managing the Hove library building have yet to be explored.

 

After learning of the amendment, the Labour council sought to regain the initiative, by announcing their decision to withdraw their proposal from Thursday’s meeting to allow further time for officers to brief opposition councillors, citing “last-minute discussions with opposition groups”.  Greens say these never took place.

Green councillors and committee members Phelim Mac Cafferty and Ollie Sykes said:

“Although we welcome this stay of execution for Hove Library in response to our amendment, the fate of the much-loved Carnegie building is still far from secure.  Labour have backed off for now but remain determined to flog a vital piece of Hove’s cultural heritage at a later date.

We are disappointed that Labour refuses to have an open debate on the issue, which seeks to respond to the concerns both Greens and Conservatives raised in their amendment to the proposals.  Instead they are evading the tough questions because they realise their plans don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Labour are on the back foot, but we need to keep up the pressure if we are to save the library.  It’s time for Labour to realise their plans just don’t have support from the majority of Hove residents”.

Notes: (1)

http://brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk/phelim-mac-cafferty-hove-library-treasured-cultural-asset-us/#ixzz46wzX0mDn

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