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December 29, 2006
Petitions in Brighton and Hove
For readers tempted into appeasement with Government quangoes, or even local councillors, here is some encouragement for the New Year from Christopher Hawtree who ought to be the mayor of Brighton and Hove and Aylesbury, too.
"Our two petitions read as follows: 1) “We, the undersigned readers, call upon Brighton and Hove City Council to increase the book stock in all its libraries as a matter of urgency in a city avid for reading in all its diversity”; 2) “We, the undersigned, call upon the Council to increase the opening hours throughout the Library service, including Sundays, as befits life in a twenty-first century metropolis”.
A rubric is best when brisk, for it has to be read aloud, and the sharp-eyed will notice the adroit incorporation of Councilspeak in the words “diversity” and “twenty-first century metropolis”.
It is always heartening to conduct a petition. People are eager to sign - at the rate of one a minute - , there is a palpable enthusiasm for books, and much talk: such diverse comments as those by an expert in Japanese and by somebody who lamented that Monica Dickens appears to have been eased from the shelves nowadays. Somebody else remarked that the library in Poole is open until ten o’clock some evenings.
The last time that we conducted a petition outside Brighton Library (for the restoration of biography and crime-fiction sections), we were ejected from the notional public square which is in fact private property under the Mill Group / Norwich Union’s PFI deal. This strong-armed approach by the Council’s Pauline Scott-Garrett caused national outrage. Since then, she has departed for Croydon and the biography section is being brought back.
This time, there were no such moves.
Whether these two petitions can magic funds in an instant remains to be seen, especially as the Council has again been given meagre funding by the Government, cuts everywhere, but the petitions can go some way towards fuelling a debate about the funding of the library service -
which, as we regularly see on this website, is becoming an urgent topic throughout the country.
It is always gratifying when one hears from all corners of the country about “the Hove case” (David Lammy winces at the phrase). Indeed, when one curator at the New York Public Library saw on BBC America the Fathers for Justice atop Big Ben, he remarked to a colleague, “that
must be another SAVE HOVE LIBRARY poster!” It didn’t quite get to that, but it is certainly an idea that people elsewhere might bear in mind.The graphic-novel section could supply some handy tips about suitable footwear.
Posted by Tim Coates at December 29, 2006 7:47 PM
Comments
It is worth adding to the above item the fact that here in Hove the campaign had the advantage that, after a referendum of residents in 2001, there was an overwhelming vote for a Committee system on the Council rather than Elected Mayor or Leader and Cabinet.
This meant that decsions have to be taken in open session by Councillors rather than behind closed doors.
Among other things, residents are able to put Public Questions - with an unscripted Supplementary Question - at all these Committees.
The Library saga took another turn each time that one of these was asked.
Residents are now aghast that Ruth Kelly wants to pull this system from under the Council and impose one form or other of leader and sidekicks, leaving most councillors to be their stooges.
Posted by: Christopher Hawtree at January 2, 2007 6:23 PM