£600,000 cuts to libraries dropped after review

Plans to cut £600,000 from York's library service budget have been dropped after a review found "now is not the right time" to reduce provision.

City of York Council approved the savings in 2024 to help tackle budget pressures, but a report due before its executive next week recommended they should not go ahead.

Labour councillor Pete Kilbane, the council's executive member for culture, said the authority had worked with library operator Explore York to identify potential efficiencies.

He said the proposed savings had "proved difficult to achieve while maintaining the key role that libraries play in our neighbourhoods".

The £600,000 reduction was originally due to be introduced in two stages of £300,000 over two years as part of wider efforts to address the council's financial pressures.

Explore York, which has run the city's libraries and archives since 2014, welcomed the recommendation.

Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Hollyer described the decision as a "major victory" for York's libraries and said his party would continue to oppose any future reductions.

He said libraries helped tackle isolation, provided access to computers and advice, and brought communities together.

The proposed savings were first approved alongside other cost-cutting measures aimed at helping the authority close budget gaps forecast to reach £9.65m by 2027-28.

At the time council leaders argued the long-term contract with Explore had become unaffordable and needed to be renegotiated.

But Explore said any changes would require the agreement of both parties and insisted it would not accept unilateral reductions to funding.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said a report due before councillors said feedback gathered from residents over the past two years, alongside library usage data and demographic information, had been used to explore options for future savings.

It concluded that "given the role libraries will play in the future", now was not the right time to make changes to the service.

Explore chief executive Jenny Layfield, said: "We are proud of the difference our staff, volunteers, members and supporters make every day and pleased we can now focus our attention on the future of the service rather than potential reductions."

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