False savings? County Councillor Stephen Palmer argues the decision to hand over to volunteers two thirds of county libraries will not create savings for the council for several years.
Has the County Council really made a good and balanced decision on behalf of the people of Lincolnshire over the way the library service is shaped for the future?
At the executive on December 3, a decision was made to change the look of the library service forever in Lincolnshire, resolving to accept the proposal that would see 30 community libraries, called tier 3 libraries, run by volunteers, but as a result making over one hundred people redundant.
Putting the issue of over one hundred Lincolnshire people being told their jobs have gone just before Christmas aside for the moment, the real question is has the result of this decision made on the presumption that it will save money from the budget really achieve this?
The aim all along, we were told, was to achieve the budget cut of approximately £2 million, and this was hammered home in all council press releases made during the consultation period. Various councillors, including the leader of the council Cllr Martin Hill and the executive portfolio holder Cllr Nick Worth, stated this over and over again.
The decision made on December 3 strangely did not achieve this much lauded figure, falling short by several hundred thousand pounds a year at £1.7 million.
It seems that in desperation to hive off the 30 libraries to volunteers, the executive have moved the goal posts and changed the game, as well as swallowing a lowering of the budget savings that had seemed so important in the lead up to this decision.
They have not yet said how the budget shortfall will be covered. It has to be said that if it was just the two to three hundred thousand a year that would not be unrecoverable, but what if it gets far, far worse?
Desperate to follow this volunteer model, the executive decision on recommendation of the senior officers in the Library Service can be shown to be costing the council a lot more both in monetary and people’s faith in the elected process.
Savings? What savings?
It has already been stated that the budget cut has missed the mark but further to this because not all libraries have volunteers ready to take over, the period has been extended for expressions of interest for a longer time.
This has had a knock on costs. It is estimated it will cost the council a further £1 million in the year 14/15, as the council keeps the 30 libraries open for a stated 60% manning time during the year 2014.
Then there is the cost of making staff redundant. Apart from doing this, even though shown it would not have to be done if a rival proposition had been taken up, it is estimated that the redundancy costs are up to £1.45 million.
Part of the transferring of libraries to volunteers is the offer of a one off grant to assist the start up of £15,000 per group.
The council have proudly announced that their target is to have 40 volunteer libraries, 10 more than the current provision. The down side is the exposure to risk of £15,000 times 40 libraries, equalling another £600,000 of expenditure.
It does not stop here, it has stated in the report to scrutiny on this proposal that £332,000 needs to be spent on the management system to allow it to be separated from the council data so volunteers can not access data they are not allowed to see.
Extra training and support for volunteers is reported to be in the region of £250,000 but it is unclear if this is a one-off cost or an ongoing annual cost. Even if a one-off, it still weighs on the savings that are supposed to be met by this change.
The consequences
The human consequences are just as important as the financial effects of making over 100 people redundant and the possible cost to the country, county and personal misery of the staff involved.
Politically, there is a growing disconnect with the electors, disbelief in consultations and growing feeling among electors that the County Council is flawed by allowing a system that governs in effect by nine councillors out of the 77 elected, and by doing so do not allow their councillors to vote on issues, unless you happen to be in an area where you are represented by one of the nine.
Of course, if the decision has made the savings, then this could possibly be reasoned to be ok, however it has not. The costs of missing the budget cut targets, the redundancies and other considerations mentioned above added up come to a staggering £3,632,000 and actually mean that the council could not break even until 2017/18 and then only start to save any money from that point on.
So why was the decision made? They could have explored further another proposal that seemed to save the full budget requirement and delivered on time, but that proposal would have kept the libraries in professional hands and in the fold of the County Council.
So why was this not wanted? The only thing the executive latched onto in opposition to this proposal was that it involved a charge to use the internet, however the proposal was only asking 50p, and most people would not have been put off by this modest charge. On top of that though there was a provision to provide free concessions to those in need, such as job seekers etc.
Could it be that the reason was political, pure and simple, and a done deal? One possible reason would be it will be easier to privatise or commission the running of the library service if it was slimmed down to 15 larger libraries in the larger communities and make them more interesting with more opportunities to make them pay by an outside body.
The one thing that has come out of this is the clear unarguable fact that the proposal accepted has not met the stated aims of the council.
It failed to meet the target of £1.93 million budget cut. It failed to be done on schedule. It will not save the council budget for libraries for several years. In fact, if the library service had been left alone, it would have been cheaper for the people of Lincolnshire for another three years.
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An ex RAF aircraft engineer and ex businessman, Stephen Palmer became interested in local government late in life at 56 in 2011, when he was elected to Mablethorpe and Sutton Town Council. He was elected to East Lindsey District Council as member for Sutton on Sea North in 2012 at a bi-election in October. He stood for County Council in May 2013 as a Lincolnshire Independent and was returned as member for the Alford and Sutton on Sea.
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A man has been arrested in connection with a sexual assault that took place on Tritton Road in Lincoln near the Co-op funeral home last week.
The 30-year-old man from Lincoln was arrested on Friday on suspicion of sexual assault, Lincolnshire Police said on Saturday, July 24.
He has been interviewed and bailed without charges, pending further enquiries.
The victim was assaulted at around 10.20pm on Saturday, July 17.
Lincolnshire Police said: “Our investigation is ongoing into this incident and if you have any information and have not yet spoken to us we would urge you to get in touch.”
If you’ve been the victim of crime, support is available, whether you have reported the crime to the police or not. Victim Lincs provide free, confidential advice and guidance, as well as access to specialist emotional support services. Visit victimlincs.co.uk or call 01522 947510 Monday – Friday 8am – 4pm.
Two men have died after a van crashed with a lorry on the A17 near Boston on Friday afternoon.
It happened shortly after midday on July 23, on the A17 between Bicker Bar and Wigtoft. The collision involved an HGV and a van.
A 46-year-old man and a 31-year-old man travelling in the van were pronounced dead at the scene, despite efforts from emergency services. Their families have been informed.
The driver of the HGV suffered minor injuries.
The road has been closed in both directions and will remain closed until at least 10pm on July 23, while officers carry out an initial investigation and recover the vehicles.
Lincolnshire Police are appealing for anyone who was in the area and may have witnessed the collision to contact officers as soon as possible.
Officers are particularly keen to see any dashcam footage which might have captured the vehicles prior to the collision, or the collision itself.
Detective Sergeant James Kirk from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “This is a devastating incident for all involved and our thoughts are with the families of both men at this time.
“We are in the very early stages of our investigation, and we would be very grateful for any assistance that the public can offer us in piecing together what happened.
“Any information, no matter how small you think it might be, will be a great help.
“We would be keen to see any relevant dashcam footage or speak to anyone who witnessed the collision.”
If you think you can help with the investigations please contact police in the following ways:
By clicking on the email link [email protected] with incident 212 of July 23 in the subject
Via our non-emergency number 101, quoting incident 212 of July 23
Through the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org
A Lincolnshire distance runner selected for the 10,000m race at the Tokyo Olympic Games is looking to do his county and his country proud, but he’s already done that and more for his Grimsby-based parents.
The Lincolnite caught up with Helen and Bob Atkin, parents of Team GB Olympic hopeful Sam Atkin, who will be running in the 10,000m event at the Tokyo games, an event that Sir Mo Farah famously won two gold medals in at the 2016 and 2012 Olympics.
During an incredibly emotional interview, with tears of joy and pride from parents Helen and Bob, they reminisced about Sam’s introduction into running and the obstacles he had to face along the way.
Sam Atkin will be representing Team GB in the 10,000m race at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Sam originally, and rather ironically, grew up playing as a goalkeeper in football, but it wasn’t until a cross country race at school where his true talents were realised.
Helen and Bob told The Lincolnite: “When he was 11, there was a cross country race at Healing school in Grimsby, and we told him if he finished in the top 10 we’d give him £100.
“There were some vey good runners out there, some who were training regularly, and Sam beat them by miles. We had parents looking around saying ‘wow, look at that boy so far in front!’
“That was the moment we knew he was special, we decided to sign him up for a running club straight after that.”
Sam is learning the game and is always studying tracks and trying to better himself.
Sam then joined Grimsby Harriers, winning every race he ran in, before eventually moving onto Lincoln Wellington at the age of 15 because he was getting so quick that he would win adult races.
While at Lincoln, Helen and Bob, who live in Grimsby, would have to drive Sam to and from training each day while juggling his school work and their own jobs at HMRC and Associated British Ports respectively, working flexible hours to support their son.
His dad Bob said: “We always knew he had talent, but it’s the unrivalled spirit and determination he has, you could almost call it stubbornness, which is just about the only thing I can claim he got from me!”
Sam moved to America when he was 18 and hasn’t looked back since.
His next big step came at 18-years-old, when he was offered a scholarship in Idaho in the United States of America.
Sam currently lives and trains in Idaho, meaning his contact with his family has been limited, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Success appears to run deep in the Atkin family, as Sam’s twin sister Jen is the reigning Miss Great Britain.
Sam Atkin will represent Team GB in the 10,000m race at the Olympics in Tokyo, but it all started in Lincolnshire.
Helen said that the twins were huge parts of one another’s careers and successes, thanks to the “special bond” they both have.
Sam qualified for the Olympic Games in dramatic fashion, after narrowly missing out on the 5,000m qualifying time, which is his preferred event, but then went on to run the now 5th fastest 10k in UK history.
Sam nearly missed the call up to the Olympic squad entirely after changing his phone, but in a rather poignant sequence of events, he found out the news while back at home with his parents.
The biggest stage of Sam Atkins’ career is just round the corner.
Bob explains: “He got a new phone number, but the Team GB selectors had his old number so they couldn’t get through to him. Eventually his agent was contacted and he let Sam know, but Sam didn’t tell us for 30 minutes! We were stunned into silence when he told us.”
His heat run will take place at 12.40pm on Friday, July 30, and Sam’s parents will be watching the race from home, but in different rooms!
“We both get very nervous watching Sam run,” Helen explains. “When we went to events with him I’d be at one end of the field and Bob would be at the other end.”
He chased the dream and now he can achieve it.
Sam is set to be the only self-funded runner of the 29 competitors in the event, giving him an underdog status that his dad Bob says he thrives under.
“It’s like Grimsby Town being chucked into the Premier League, it sounds negative but trust me it’s not, wherever he finishes he’ll make us proud.
“When he was younger we just used to tell him to run as fast as he can, now that he’s reached the top level, the advice gets tougher, so we sent him a message to go with his Team GB kit that just read: ‘Keep your head up and get on with it’.
“We cannot express the pride we feel for him, it’s all too much to be honest with you. Make no mistake about it, he’s earned his way there and he deserves this so much.”
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