Issue - meetings

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice.  This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

The Chairman explained that five Motions on Notice had been received for this meeting.

In respect of the first two Motions that had been received, the Chairman provided Council with an update regarding live streaming of Council meetings.

It was noted that the subject of live streaming Council meetings using meeting “owls” had recently been discussed by political group leaders.  At this meeting it had been agreed that group leaders would like to start live streaming Council meetings on a regular basis within the following six months.  The specific arrangements for this remained to be discussed further at the following meeting of the Constitution Review Working Group.

Given all group leaders were in agreement with this, it was agreed that the first two Motions on the agenda would not be discussed at this meeting.

Future of Libraires within the District

Council considered the following Motion on Notice that was submitted by Councillor H. Rone-Clarke:

"There is a threat to the future of our libraries and the way in which they are to be managed. It is proposed that Bromsgrove, Rubery and Wythall Libraries will be the first in the County to become ‘unmanned.’ There will be serious consequences associated with such changes both for staff and users of this service. Therefore, we call upon the Overview and Scrutiny Board to investigate the consequences of such action."

In proposing the Motion, Councillor Rone-Clarke commented that it seemed that there was little consultation with the public in respect of these changes and that the changes were being made as part of the ‘modernisation’ of the libraries.

It was stated that libraires were a vital service for residents including the elderly and those with a disability and that it was extremely important to keep libraires and librarians delivering this service.

Councillor E. Gray seconded the Motion.

The Leader responded to the Motion and in doing so, requested that should the Motion be agreed, Members looked at the Impact of the Review of Libraires Task Group’s report that had been carried out in 2021.

Members were informed that Worcestershire County Council (WCC) were looking at rolling out Libraries Unlocked to a number of other libraries, following a successful pilot at Droitwich and Stourport.  This involved introducing new technology which allowed customers with Libraries Unlocked membership to enter the library using their library card outside normal opening hours and to use library services independently when staff were not present.  Customers who upgraded to free Libraries Unlocked membership would be able to access the library from 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday.

Since Libraries Unlocked was launched in Droitwich and Stourport Libraries in June 2022, library opening hours had increased by 85%, providing more flexibility and convenience for customers and community groups.

It was reported that the scheduling of libraries for Phase 2 of the implementation prioritised library clusters where Worcestershire County Council owned the freehold of library buildings and progress was not subject to negotiations with landlords or a private finance initiative (PFI)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34