Please save my library

Letter to Residents – Save the St. James Library

With all the hard work that has been done over the last couple of months I was filled with pride that this Residents’ Association handed in a petition of over 1000 names to the County Council, and the outcome of the St. James Library is now in the hands of the Council’s decision makers. It is this Chairman’s hope that they see wisdom in keeping open our library and remember the enormous support shown by the residents of St. James. Your Residents’ Association has once again stood up for what was right and fair for the residents of an already deprived and forgotten area by both County and Borough Councils. All any of us can do now is wait and see if our children’s futures are going to be safe or destroyed.
I believe a Chairman’s job can be easy or difficult depending on the committee they have at their disposal. I can honestly say that my job as Chairman has been made easy by an exceptionally dedicated and hardworking committee that any Chairman would be proud to work with. I cannot emphasise just how much work your committee has put into producing a complete document showing all the flaws in the Council’s arguments for closure and workable options to keep our library open. I feel at times that the hard work the SJRA committee does for this area is not often seen, and from a group of volunteers who always give freely of their time and knowledge I would like to publicly take this opportunity to express my gratitude for everything they have done.
Of course it goes without saying that in such times we all need support and the SJRA is no different. We have been overwhelmed by not only having the support from our residents but also the support from Head Teachers, Councillors and both of the Sports Clubs in the area. A very big thank you goes out to the Saints and The Cobblers for adding their voice to this campaign. Not only does this add weight to our campaign but shows all their young fans that libraries are an important part of their community. I also would like to publicly thank Mary Clarke for her contribution on the document that was handed into the County Council. Without people like Mary working in the back ground supporting the SJRA our jobs as a committee would be made much more difficult. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Chronicle & Echo and BBC Radio Northampton for their fantastic coverage of the threat of closure to our library. I could spend at least a whole page thanking everyone that comes to mind but I would fear that I would induce sleep in whoever reads this letter. So I will simply say that I have never been more proud of St. James and the people who live here. I hope that the County Council finally see that this is not just a gateway in and out of this town, but is in fact a strong and thriving community.
Before I can end this letter I cannot forget to mention one more person. Mr. Alan Moore. For those of you who do not know Mr. Moore then I would recommend that you Wikipedia the vast and amazing career this incredible and local writer has had and is still having. For those of you who know Alan or who met him for the first time on Saturday 5th February at the read in at the St. James Library then you would have been treated to an excellent story and talk from Mr. Moore. Everyone was given a real treat to speak to this world famous author who was happy to spend time with the public. Mr. Moore was happy for people to have their picture taken with him and sign many books. I have to admit that I was one of those who walked away that day with kind words written in one of my favourite books and Mr. Moore’s signature. I was truly overwhelmed at Mr. Moore and how he gave of his time in defence of library closures everywhere. So I would also like to publicly thank Mr. Alan Moore for not only entertaining us that day but also for being a friend to the SJRA and of the residents of St. James.
So as the SJRA wait for the County Council to come to their decision I can promise the residents of St. James that the SJRA will continue to fight wherever we see injustice being carried out. The potential cuts that we all face will affect areas like St. James in a massive way as it’s already an area suffering from years of cuts. This is why as I end this letter I call on all St. James residents to unite and stand together and support your local Residents’ Association by attending meetings and making your voices heard.

Best Regards
John Connolly
Chair – St James Residents’ Association

Northampton MP's view on library closure

Brian Binley MP
Northampton South Constituency
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA 1st February 2011

Dear Mr. Connolly

Thank you for your email. Can I say that I have every sympathy with the concerns you expressed with regard to the closure of the library in St James.
I fully understand the problems faced by the County Council not least because I faced similar problems when I was Finance & Resources portfolio holder in 2006 and indeed I fought against the closure of some libraries at that time.
The truth however is that the council is responsible for budgetary decision making and I have no input into those decisions. I do however have the ability to bring to the Governments attention the general question of funding in Northamptonshire and I have already written to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government expressing my concern at the low formula funding grant which has necessitated deeper cuts than would have other been the case, and I have asked for a meeting with him to discuss this matter further.
We must also recognise that the financial crisis we face was partially the fault of the last Government, not least because the last Prime Minister instructed the FSA to apply a light touch to regulatory control at a time when the banks were running out of control with regard to lending policy.
That self same Government also spent too much of our money in the public sector increasing the public sector payroll by some 20% over 10 years and it all has to be paid for.
The consequences of those policies are now evident and we face a budget deficit of £120 billion this year which means that the Government is borrowing £1 in every £4 it spends and we have to get that deficit down before we can start attacking the public sector debt mountain which will stand at some £1450 billion by 2015.
However that is not the end of the problem because, if you add Governments obligations of public sector pensions, PFI repayments and the underwriting of our banks, that figure increases to £3000 billion or £3 trillion and I am not prepared to stand back and do nothing about the situation thereby leaving the burden of our profligacy to be paid off by our children and grand children. In truth I find that immoral.
Incidentally, I didn’t know what a billion looked like so I asked a Treasury official who told me that a billion seconds equates of little over 32yrs, and that gives you some idea of the mountain we have to climb.
But back to library closures. I repeat it is not my job to take part in an argument over budgetary decisions, but as I said I will fight for a fairer share of the cake for Northamptonshire and I enclose a copy of a letter I sent to Eric Pickles, which you might find interesting in that respect.
I will also urge councillors to delay the closure of the library by a year to give you and your colleagues a little more time to find viable ways of making the library more successful.
I would however point out that some 307 people out of a catchment of 25,000 people used the library last year and therein lies the difficulty. There just isn’t enough footfall.
In conclusion can I say that I recognise that this isn’t the answer that you would want but it I an honest answer, I hope you will appreciate that.

Yours sincerely,

Brian Binley MP
Northampton South Constituency

More Incompetence

Upto 90 agency staff at westbridge depot NBC ,have been layed off due to the mismanagement of either the councillors.nbc or employement agencies.

SAVE OUR LIBRARY

Save our Library

We at Northampton Town Football Club are delighted to support the campaign to save St James Library.
As a big part of the community of Northampton, we work with thousands of children and adults educationally each year using the power of football to motivate, educate and entertain. Through that work we see at first hand just how important libraries are to their local communities.
Libraries perform many roles - they are a learning resource, a place for reflection, a meeting place, an opportunity to encourage more and varied reading and also as a cornerstone of the community. We therefore hope that the library can be saved and continue to perform these vital roles.
The St James library is as much as a part of the community of St James and Northampton as the Cobblers are, and we hope the library can continue to serve the community for many years to come.

Kind regards
Gareth Willsher
Head of Media
Northampton Town Football Club
www.ntfc.co.uk

SAVE OUR LIBRARY

In reference to the proposed closure of St James library and our campaign to keep it open,we have Grace Kempster who is the customer and services manager for the Northampton County Council attending our residents meeting on thursday 13th january at the Doddridge Centre in St James rd at 7pm.

SAVE OUR LIBRARY

http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/Leisure/Libraries/publib/Pages/Jameslib.aspx

Ideas Wanted

From: Chief Executive [mailto:ChiefExecutive2@northamptonshire.gov.uk]
Sent: 14 December 2010 15:40
To: Chief Executive
Subject: Northamptonshire County Council budget consultation
Dear colleague
We very much wish to invite your comments on the Council’s Draft Budget 2011-12 and Council Plan 2011-15. These were published today for a period of 8 weeks formal consultation.
It is vitally important that we hear from as many people as possible during this consultation period, as we all work together to find the best solutions. Details of this consultation, including proposals and a range of ways to take part, can be found on the Council’s dedicated web pages. Please encourage your local community to take part and to have their say:

http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/youchoose

Please let us have your views and ideas by 8th February, so that we can consider these fully and seriously. The Council Plan and Budget will be discussed at the Council meeting on 24th February 2011.

OOOOPPS

This is what the council thinks is a safe way to leave a damaged garage after 2 weeks

Another success thanks to Councillor Pam Varnsverry

FIFA or the NBC ?

Whats happened in 5 years ?

The Boxing day tsunami 2004,Obama was voted in as president of the USA,a new government in Britain,Zidane got sent off in the world cup final,Usain Bolt becomes fastest man ever,the list goes on ,but at last after 5 years of asking and Jimmys end gets flowers in the flower beds ........RESULT

Thanks Suresh...will other councillors follow suite?

Drain clearing at last

After a thursday black bag collection

St James school site ...good advert for Northampton in bloom

Thought of the Day

Has anybody ever seen the pavement gutters cleaaned in the last 20 odd years?

Blocked,Drains,and Rain equates to ...........

"to go the way of the Dodo"