Suffolk County Council's cabinet will this month be asked to approve a vision and model for the future of library services in Suffolk – which would retain the library network and put it on a strong and sustainable footing for the future.
At the meeting, cabinet will also be asked to approve a new public consultation on how mobile library services can be restructured to retain the service and make necessary savings. A proposal to change the frequency of mobile visits from fortnightly to monthly – bringing Suffolk in line with its county neighbours – will be put to the public. Absolutely no decision will be made on mobile libraries until after the views expressed during the public consultation have been taken into account.
Commenting on mobile libraries, Cllr Judy Terry, Suffolk County Council's Portfolio Holder responsible for libraries, said:
"I do not want anyone to jump to any conclusions on mobile libraries. The review has demonstrated to us that there could be a more efficient way of running the service in order to keep it going – so we're going to explore those issues via an open public consultation. No decisions will be made until we've taken those views into account."
Creeting St Peter is currently served by a mobile library which visits on alternate Fridays for fifteen minutes. Cllr Mark Valladares, Vice Chairman of the Parish Council, commented, "We'll do our best to enable residents to make their views known on the potential reduction of one of the very few services directly provided to the village. Whilst I am personally disappointed by the proposal, there may be alternative ways that allow villagers to use the county libraries, and we should explore these.".
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