ANALYSIS
Last week a young girl and her family scored a ‘people’s victory’ over
Northamptonshire County Council, halting the planned closure of 21 libraries.
Liam Geraghty asks if this will trigger a rethink for other local authoritiesWill landmark ruling rewrite
the book on library closures?
L
ibraries closing their doors have
become a regular sight on local
newspaper pages across the
country – 478 have gone in the last
eight years – but last week brought hope for
book lovers.
Northamptonshire County Council’s
(NCC) plans to axe 21 of the 36 libraries in
its area had been in the pipeline
since February after the insolvent
authority searched for £70m to
balance the books. But the cuts were
ruled to be unlawful in a judicial
review last week.
The closures have been fought
dog ged ly at ever y t u r n by c a mpa ig n
groups since they were announced
- but it was a young girl and her
family, who remain anonymous,
that triggered the review on August
13 and sent the council back to the
drawing board.
Mrs Justice Yip, presiding, ruled
that the plans were unlawful, saying:
“The whole question of library
provision needs to be revisited by the
defendant, paying attention to its legal
obligations and all material considerations.”
The decision stemmed from how the
closures would cause the local authority to
fail in its duty to support the county’s most
vulnerable, including the loss of children’s
centres, which are now housed in 13 of the
libraries. Among their plans, NCC had failed
to factor in the £330,000 funding that would
have to be paid back to the Department of
Education for cutting children’s
centre support at the under-threat
Desborough Library.
The landmark judgement is a thorn in the
side of the cash-strapped council, which has
been the subject of a section 114 order since
February after the 2017/18 budget indicated
an unlawful £21.1m overspend.
It is the first time the Local Government
Finance Act 1988 order, which requires the
council to agree a balanced budget and avoid
new expenditure, has been issued in almost
two decades – the last authority to take
action was Hackney Council in 2000.
By February, then-Communities
Secretary Sajid Javid had already called for
an independent government investigation
by Max Caller CBE. The verdict Caller
returned in March was damning, saying:
“The problems faced by NCC are now so deep
and ingrained that it is not possible to
promote a recovery plan that could bring the
council back to stability and safety in a
reasonable timescale.”
Now, in the wake of the judicial review,
council leader Matt Golby has pledged to
“work closely with community groups,partners and interested parties within the
wider context of the council’s budget
recovery programme”.
But Graham Croucher, the chairman of
campaign group St James’ Resident
Association, has hailed the ruling as a
“people’s victory”. He describes how seven-
daylibraryoperationscuttojustthreedays
since February with slashed arts and craft
sessions, newspapers, magazines and staf.“We are pleased with the ruling but the
real work starts now,” says Graham.
“It’s up to the NCC to come to us now to
talk about what their plan is. Whatever
financial compromise they arrive at, they
have to ensu re t hey comply w it h t he law. We
will continue to hold them to account.
“This was a grassroots campaign. It was
a people’s victory. Now it needs to
continue to be so.
“It’s like (former RMT boss) Bob
Crow said: ‘If you fight you won’t
always win. But if you don’t fight you
will always lose.’”
The battle will rage on in
Northamptonshire, where the
blame has been laid on financial
mismanagement, but “unfair
funding” could see the story
repeated elsewhere.
The County Councils Network
found just one-third of council
leaders were confident of delivering
a balanced budget without an extra
cash injection by 2020/21.
East Sussex County Council has already
retreated to a “core ofer” policy with the
finger pointed at funding cuts, while unitary
authority Torbay Council halted all
non-urgent expenditure last week after
forecasting a £2.8m overspend.
But will they still be able to look to
libraries closures to get back in the black
following this week’s ruling?
Caroline Barrett, the Irwin Mitchell
solicitor who argued the case against NCC
last week, believes the case is one of many
t hat u nderli nes t he cut s c a n not be u n law f u l,
citing a ruling in Bristol earlier this month
that halted a £5m cut to funding for children
with special needs.
“There is a pattern now of judgements
where judges have ruled that just because
councils have to balance the books it does
not mean that they cannot comply with the
law,” she says.
“Cuts cases are happening all over the
country right now and it’s not just libraries- it’s children’s centres and care provision
for vulnerable people.
“Councils can’t cut services without
showing their evidence – there has to be
justification for their actions.”
@Lazergun_Nun
Photo:Rachel PageCAN A COUNCILCANACOUNCIL
GO BANKRUPT?
Unlike a public or private limited company,
a council cannot be wound up and liquidated
when it is insolvent. Instead, the chieffinancial
oi cer must issue a section 114 order, under
the Local Government Finance Act 1988,
when the council cannot providealegally
required balanced budget. This triggers a
21-day breathing period in which all current
services continue as normalwhile a cabinet
meeting must take place to arrange a new
balanced budget – by deciding what services
or sta can be cut or buildings or land can
be sold and leased back to free up cash. No
new expenditure can be taken on, although
statutory services and safeguarding vulnerable
people must be maintained, while council
retreat to thebare minimum or“co re
oer” service.Families protest outside Brackley Library in
Northamptonshire after it was announced
it will only open one day a week