I welcome the continued publicity given by your paper to the important work of the children, education, libraries and safeguarding committee in recent weeks, ensuring that there is full and frank participation in the consultation on the future of our library service.

Several residents have contacted officers, elected members, potential community groups, this publication, and the consultation process itself, which continues to be available online on the council’s website and a paper copy is available from Barnet libraries on request.

It is important that, whilst the officers and members of the council must leave no stone unturned in preserving funding to cover statutory and other important services, residents ensure that the way they use and appreciate services is understood, so that the best future provision can be found to fit the changing way that residents use services.

I think it is important to respond to a letter by one resident published recently that contained a number of inaccuracies. It was suggested that savings could instead be made by “ceasing to pay fancy prices to consultants”, “ceasing to pursue the current policy of refusing to accept coins in cash car parking meters”, and “terminating some of the ten-year contracts with Capita”.

One wonders why this resident did not heed his own advice when a director trustee of the Friern Barnet Community Library where, according to the accounts forwarded by him to members of the CELS committee, £8,000 of the £25,000 grant paid by the council went to “consultants” whereas, in response to a question on this matter to full council on December 16, the corresponding proportion of external temporary positions is tiny in comparison.

The other two suggestions are actually to remove measures that are saving the council money, so reversing this would actually cost more rather than less and thus create a more difficult budget situation than currently exists.

On a final note, some residents have inquired about the proposals for open libraries. This was also raised at the latest full council meeting. My response was that these can be accessed and used by residents outside of staffed hours.

Forty per cent of Denmark’s 450 libraries are now open libraries, with more on the way. They have expanded rapidly since 2004 and proved popular. According to a local government survey in Denmark in 2013, 75 per cent of municipalities with open libraries expect to expand the scheme, with 78 per cent of participating municipalities having experienced increasing visiting figures and 65 per cent having seen an increase in loans.

A user survey by the Danish Agency for Culture revealed that 92 per cent of people feel that they receive the help they need, 91 per cent feel it is easy to use the open library, 45 per cent do not differentiate between there being staff available or not, and only 35 per cent prefer to visit the library when there are staff present.

I reiterate my encouragement of residents to engage in the participation so that a deeper understanding of what we need our library service to do can be made before being considered by the committee.

Cllr Reuben Thompstone

Con/Golders Green Lead Member for Children Barnet Borough Council