Liverpool libraries saved after budget boost – for now
"Public libraries in Liverpool have been saved from closure after the government promised £27m for adult social care in the city – however, the city’s mayor has warned that the decision is a stay of execution, rather than a permanent reprieve for the beleaguered library service.
The £27m injection is Liverpool’s share of an extra £2bn promised last week by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, to shore up local councils’ social care provision across the country. Four of the city’s 13 libraries were due to close, with others to be transferred to community groups, under plans aimed at saving £1.6m. Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said the cuts were needed to plug a £90m hole in the local authority’s budgets over the next three years.
Announcing the reprieve, Anderson said the money meant council reserves could now be redirected to protect all Liverpool’s libraries for the next three years. Describing the money as “a small bit of breathing space” and libraries as “a fundamental building block of lifelong education”, Anderson added: “The fact that we had to look at cutting its services was genuinely heartbreaking and shows the scale of the problem which councils like Liverpool are having to address.”"
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