Following today’s (Tuesday 18 March 2025) decision to take Suffolk’s libraries back in-house at Suffolk County Council, members of the council’s official opposition shared their disappointment and anger at how poorly the process had been managed, both in the public arena and behind closed doors.
The council has criticised Suffolk Libraries for proposing a reduction in library opening hours, yet this was on the back of libraries budgets not being significantly increased in the last 10 years.
The county’s libraries were divested in 2012 after considerable public protest against the Conservative council’s plans to close libraries. Since that time, the service has gone from strength to strength, with local Friends groups raising money for their local libraries and volunteers working hard alongside library staff to keep down costs.
Members of the Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent group criticised the ‘callous’ treatment of the Friends groups and Suffolk Libraries by the council, who only found out that the council was planning to withdraw from contract negotiations at the same time as the council briefed the local press.
Simon Harley (Green Party), the group spokesperson for Public Health, Communities and Biodiversity, said:
“My group have been asking since November 2024 about the libraries contract, but were entirely kept in the dark.
Suffolk Libraries have been a trusted partner of the council for many years, and have provided an incredible service to Suffolk residents, inspiring their loyalty and trust. But you can see clearly in the Cabinet papers how the council has undervalued the charity – the council’s own audit report from 2023 states that they ‘need to improve their working relationship’ with Suffolk Libraries and ‘invest sufficient resources’ to work with them. Yet now, only two years on, that relationship has entirely broken down.
It was made clear in the meeting that the Cabinet member with responsibility for the library service doesn’t even attend their Board meetings.
We are unsurprised that over 22,000 Suffolk residents have signed the petition asking the council to rethink its decision to move libraries back in-house.
It was the council that was threatening the future of the county’s libraries back in 2012 when the service was divested. They are trying to spin this story to be about Suffolk Libraries’ failings, when in fact they have consistently undervalued both the libraries and Suffolk Libraries as an organization for years.
It’s not surprising that the people of Suffolk do not trust Suffolk County Council to run the libraries again. They expect the libraries will be at risk if this happens and their fears are not entirely unfounded.
We ask that Suffolk County Council puts aside its animosity towards Suffolk Libraries and gets back around the table to reverse this damaging decision as a matter of urgency.”