Brent Budget Panel Disappointing on Libraries

I have had a chance to look at the Brent Council Budget Panel's views on libraries in detail, and my goodness it is a thin document.  It appears to be ignorant not only of the success of Brent Libraries, but even to suggest that they are unpopular on the word of a number of individuals who have told them this.  They might have a more accurate view if they paid attention to what people who use libraries rather than just shout about them think.  For this I reproduce Brent's Public Library User figures below:

You can see that the Libraries Transformation Project actually saw improved satisfaction levels immediately after the strategy started to be implemented.  The actual figures are here. 

They also appear to be under the impression that volunteers running stand alone buildings are saving the Council money, which they are not.  They are simply demanding that the Council give them a series of grants.  Some time I would like to see the Preston group's £18,000 "reception desk".  At that price, I assume it is an impressive item of furniture. 

It is also interesting that the task group want to "sweat the assets" by renting out space.  They appear not to know the Council does this already at, for example, Willesden Library.  However, this view would be compatible with a more realistic renting policy at the former Preston Library building.  Officers have suggested renting it commercially at the rate of £50,000 a year, which would be a substantial contribution if it was diverted to the Council's own library service.  So far, I see little sign of that happening.

Rather than suggesting non-solutions, the Panel would have been better employed finding out whether the Merton model of volunteers in a Council run building has anything to offer.  Meanwhile Cllr McLennan has apparently announced that the library cuts are "off the table".  Personally, given Cllr Butt's tendency to say one thing and then do another, I would wait to see it actually voted off the budget before being sure.  However, I did think that the fiercer end of the cuts was likely to be blunted by the inability of the man to actually deal with difficult decisions.