CHINGFORD: Churches unite to fight library closure (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)
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CHINGFORD: Churches unite to fight library closure
1:16pm Tuesday 5th July 2011 in News By Ima Jackson-Obot
From left, Rev Leslie Goldsmith, Rev Malcolm Boulter and Rev Britto Belevendran outside South Chingford Library
CHURCHES have united to criticise the loss of council services in south Chingford, saying elderly members of the community will suffer the most.
The council plans to close South Chingford Library in Hall Lane as part of a borough-wide shake-up aimed at improving the service.
But religious leaders in the area that vulnerable residents will find it increasingly difficult to access vital resources.
A letter to councillors signed by representatives of five nearby churches said: “Our local shops and community are already suffering from this being an area that people pass through.
“The removal of yet more services means that particularly the elderly, of which there are many in this area, and the vulnerable will find it increasingly hard to access important services.”
Speaking to the Guardian, Reverend Lesley Goldsmith, of St Edmund’s church in Larkswood Road, said: ““This is something that affects our community greatly.
“In this part of the borough we have a lot of elderly people who use the library services and by doing what it is proposing, the council is expecting them to travel further away.”
Reverend Malcolm Boulter, of South Chingford Congregational Church in Chingford Mount Road, said: “I think it is a great shame that the library is going.
“Our resources which are at the heart of our community are gradually disappearing.
“Any community that loses a resource like that is going to be poorer for it.
“It can be a struggle for a number of elderly people.
It is okay to hop on a bus but for a lot of old people it will be a bridge too far.”
A public consultation is currently underway on a proposal to cut £1 million from the library services budget.
Harrow Green Library in Leytonstone is also earmarked for closure under the plan.
Cllr Geraldine Reardon, the cabinet member for culture, said the plans would be unlikely to change unless an alternative proposal to save the money is put forward.
She added the authority had been left with little choice but to make the cuts due to a reduction in government funding.
Cllr Reardon added: “This way we're trying to come up with a more efficient and inclusive library service, perhaps even better, with the limited resources we have.”
Tory group leader Cllr Matt Davis said: “If you look at the empirical evidence the conclusions the council has reached don't make sense at all. Labour don't get many votes in Chingford and it all strongly suggests that is a factor.”
Father Britto Belevendran, a priest at Christ the King church in Chingford Road, Jonathan Mead, a methodist minister in the area, and Reverend Natasha Woodward, vicar of All Saints (The Old Church) in Chingford Mount, also signed the letter.
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Comments(4)
Cllr Matt Davis
says...
10:56pm Tue 5 Jul 11
If only our country had not had to endure 13 years of the atrocious Labour government wastefully spending our money, and a lot more besides, like a drunken sailor on shore leave, then it would not now be necessary for the Coalition government to have to reduce this excessive spending to deal with our massive national debt and the incredible budget deficit both caused by the financial profligacy illiteracy and basic stupidity of Sam Hain's Labour party.
Never forget that it is the Labour party who run Waltham Forest and so it is them who have decided to close our libraries rather than cutting, for example, the £285 000.00 a year of our money that they choose to spend on employing full time Trade Union officials, a cost that should be borne by the Unions and not tax payers. Of course the fact that the Labour Council chooses to spend our money this way then makes it possible for those same Unions to donate large sums back to the Labour party since they then do not have to pay their own staff like everyone else does.
The current horrible financial situation that we find ourselves in is totally and solely the fault of the Labour party and the fact that Labour spin doctors like Sam Hain still refuse to acknowledge that, and accept the rightful responsibility for the disaster that they have brought upon us all beggars belief.
These unneccessary, and deliberately punitive, cuts are Labour cuts and they and nobody else are responsible for them. I am sure that the people of Waltham Forest, and elsewhere, will remember that the next time that they go to cast their votes.
Sam Hain
says...
8:29am Wed 6 Jul 11
Sam Hain
says...
10:48am Wed 6 Jul 11
o.uk/trustees/Jobdes
.asp and would draw his attention to the bullet point: "To ensure the financial stability of the organisation". In the light of recent events it ill-behoves him to critcise Labour for "financial profligacy, illiteracy and basic stupidity". People who live in glass houses really mustn't throw stones!
Sam Hain says...
10:02pm Tue 5 Jul 11
on, especially as the cuts have been forced on the Council by the Government led by his party. As for the churches, isn't it their Christian duty to offer assistance to their elderly parisioners. Perhaps they could organise a service to change old people's books for them at the nearest library and offer them sanctuary in their buildings to keep warm in winter and read the papers?