Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
LIBRARIES in the Borough of Culture 2027: good & bad news
BY the end of this month, all of the Borough's libraries nine libraries will be open for the first time since Covid.
That’s the good news.
Not so good, is that "permanent" operating hours will be introduced.
Since the political decision to slash opening hours, actual closures were unpredictable and sometimes random, including at our local library, Stroud Green & Harringay.
Stroud Green & Harringay public library will be subject to permanent day-closures on which residents can now depend. According to the Ham & High report:
Tuesdays – closed all day
Thursdays – closed all day
Sundays – closed all day
Muswell Hill Library finally set to reopen after more than two years
Muswell Hill Library to reopen after extensive refurbishment
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Tags for Forum Posts: Borough of Culture 2027, Cllr Emily Arkell, Haringey Council, Libraries, permanent closings
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by KP on
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That's bad news for the library to be permanently closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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YES.
With a third of Library opening hours slashed, Haringey Council give the impression that books, reading and the other services that librarians offer—in dedicated library buildings—are a less important part of borough culture.
I hope that some of their spending of public money on Borough of Culture 2027 might either be cut-back or re-budgeted,* in order to restore the opening hours which they cut.
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*BUDGETS—in an unguarded moment, the council once let slip that the five or six-figure expense of re-naming Black Boy Lane would be met from existing budgets.
We may never know exactly what previous budget expenses were obliged to make way to pay for the street-renaming.
The implication is, that there is no un-budgeted expense that cannot be met from existing budgets.
These are Leadership decisions, of course. It's almost as though the leadership were financially irresponsible.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mahoney
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The cost of attempting to rename Black Boy Lane was only ever going to come from existing budgets. There was not, and still isn't, a magic money tree set aside to fund stupid ideas.
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THIS slightly misses the point. The council has a time worn phrase,
I'm sorry [name], there's no money in the budget for [insert item].
In truth, there is always money available if the leadership wants to do something badly enough, even though it may mean displacing previously agreed expenditure.
The costly and gratuitous renaming of Black Boy Lane was successful.
Haringey Council's accounts are in a shambles with the external Auditor's Opinion being the worst possible for three years running. In years gone by, there might have been resignations …
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Permalink Reply by Peter Beardsley
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It's also disappointing news that permanent operating hours are coupled with a complete reshuffle of staff. We are to say farewell to our incumbent team of over 40years service (despite their preference to remain with SG&H). The reasoning for this management technique is unexplained. Also unwelcomed. But Friends of our library will continue to make strong alliances with our staff. Fatima (architecture student working Saturdays) is great! More to meet. It will be a relief to have the Library open every Saturday after the temporary hours. However, wildcat staff shortages may still apply...... This is meant to be the end of the debacle that started at the end of 2023 with the threat of librarianless toilet-less CCTV robot libraries but, even so, our local Labour councillors will not commit to these cuts being the end of the story.... so we wait until the inflated executive pay ceiling (set at £186K + 23% pension contribution) goes up another notch to judge if any more librarians, ahem, low wage 'library assistants' must go. [Note: the library service does not employ qualified librarians due to cost.] The new opening times (from Sept 29th) will be 37hrs per week instead of 57hrs. This is a 35% reduction resulting from a reported 31% in overall library budget reduction. This is where we are.... PLEASE USE YOUR LIBRARY!!
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Oh no I had no idea these lovely people are all leaving!! That's so sad. Nick and Magnolia are very familiar faces and are always so helpful. I will be away on 26th so can't make the leaving do. Wish I had known so I could have said goodbye
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I'm sorry about this too.
Peter's mention of
the inflated executive pay ceiling (set at £186K + 23% pension contribution)
is likely to be a reference to the pay ceiling of the Director of Culture, whose responsibilities include oversight of Borough of Culture 2027.
To put this into perspective, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom takes a salary of £166,786 (slightly less that he's entitled to) and Haringey's Director of Culture is currently at similar level.
The local political leadership has lost control over both salaries and the number of employees paid at six-figure level and above.
In my view, this is due to the long, symbiotic relationship between Cabinet and Directors.
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