Monday 5 March 2012

Wokingham's proposals to privatise it's libraries moves a step closer!

http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=1065857
"Wokingham Borough Council has voted to move to the tendering stage of the process.
It hopes to save £170,000 by outsourcing the management of 10 public libraries across the borough
."
£170,000 is a tiny saving in the overall scheme of the council's budget, so the decision to privatise is ideological not economical!


http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/2109552_councils_vow_to_keep_libraries_open_despite_tender#comments
"Councillor UllaKarin Clark, executive member for internal services, pointed out at a meeting of the executive on Thursday, February 23, that when the bids are considered in June the council will be able to pull out of the process if it wants to"
It's not only the council who can choose to pull out, whoever the contract is awarded too may also pull out if the deal is not as profitable as they envisaged, there maybe a penalty for doing so but a private firm won't run a service at a loss for too long! This could leave the service and the community high and dry?

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