DARLINGTON Borough Council revealed detailed proposals relating to the future of the town’s library services earlier this week. Ahead of a council vote to approve the plans, Cllr Nick Wallis and council officer Mike Crawshaw answered a number of questions raised since.

The library plans are divided into three phases, what are the timings involved?

NW: “By September 2017, we hope to have Cockerton Library up and running, with on-going support from the council to get them off to a flying start.

“By this time next year, we hope to have completed the main library’s move to the Dolphin Centre.”

What are the plans for the Crown Street building? Has the council been approached by potential buyers and is there any truth to rumours that The Cornmill Centre’s owners New River have expressed an interest?

NW: "No. We have had no discussions, letters or emails in respect of the future of the building.

The Northern Echo:

Cllr Nick Wallis

“The future use of Crown Street will be very important, it is a Grade II listed building with all of the legal protection it requires.

“I would love to see it in future public use but that will be looked at in the future.”

Estimated savings resulting from the changes to library services have been significantly impacted following a delay to the proposals that arose from the threat of a legal challenge.

If the plans are approved, a further legal challenge is likely – how have you prepared to contest this and how would your legal costs be funded?

NW: “We have used the last four months fruitfully to work up proposals as to how the library will operate in the Dolphin Centre.

“In my opinion, we have put forward a robust set of proposals and I cannot see how a legal challenge could follow.

“I see no reason, if the plans are approved by council, why the proposals should not be taken forward with alacrity.”

A number of library staff are facing job losses. What is the current position in relation to redundancies and how many will there be?

MC: “We have a number of staff at risk. The cabinet and council have some decisions to make and if these plans are approved, then during 2017, there will be a reduction of staff.”

Neither party could confirm the number of job losses involved at the time of the interview.

Eighteen hours of professional support has been pledged to support those running Cockerton Library. Will this come from a qualified librarian?

MC: “It will be experienced staff, our library officers have a high level of appropriate experience – there is no librarian at Cockerton Library now.”

The Northern Echo:

Cockerton Library

NW: “In terms of operation, people will not notice any difference – Cockerton remains part of Darlington’s library service.”

The council has said the plans will help to sustain both the library service and the Dolphin Centre. Have alternative ways of operating the leisure centre been considered as part of this process?

NW: “Previously, we have looked at private sector options and other possible options and found that people from the private sector thought we were running it very effectively.

“It is not a binary choice between the Dolphin Centre and Crown Street, the centre has the town’s only publicly available 25m swimming pool and other health and fitness services.

“This has been driven by complex factors in terms of money and improvements where they can be achieved.”

These plans have been recommended for approval, despite a strength of public opposition, which has left many feeling as though they have not been listened to. What would you say to those people?

NW: “Public buildings rarely last more than 150 years and we have taken the library at Crown Street as far as we can go, it no longer meets a need as it used to.

“We also have a critical need to save money and considered together, there is a case for relocation.

“We spent £10,000 on expert opinion when the library campaigners put in their business plan for Crown Street but those plans did not hold water.

“I understand that change is very difficult but the Peases were not bound by tradition, they set up something that met the needs of that population at that time.

“There has been a 35 per cent decline in visits and Pease’s response to that would have been innovative – his was an era of innovation and great change and that is what we are doing, too.”

FUTURE plans for Darlington’s library services were met with strong feeling when they were outlined in The Northern Echo earlier this week.

As part of Darlington Borough Council’s ongoing £12.5m programme of budget cuts, the historic Crown Street Library will close its doors forever and many of its resources will be moved to the nearby Dolphin Centre at a cost of £1.7m.

If approved by councillors later this month, the plans would see Cockerton Library become a community-run facility, while the town’s mobile library will no longer operate.

Reactions to the latest plans have been mixed, with the Cockerton Library proposals welcomed by most while the closure of Crown Street Library remains a controversial decision.

Heather Scott, Conservative Party leader in Darlington, said: “With Crown Street we must separate the move of the library to the Dolphin Centre from the issue of heritage and the building itself.

The Northern Echo:

Cllr Heather Scott

“I feel strongly that we must protect the heritage of the building but on balance, I do feel that the idea of moving the library to the Dolphin Centre has been proved in other places to encourage more people to become users.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Anne-Marie Curry said: “The overwhelming position of the people of Darlington is that they do not want the library to be moved.

The Northern Echo:

Cllr Anne-Marie Curry

“We do not believe it makes financial sense spending so much to move when it will take so long to recoup that money.

“If Crown Street Library had been passed to the community, we believe it could have broken even or made a profit.”

Darlington for Culture spokesman John Dean, who will be part of the team running Cockerton Library, said: “We are disappointed that the campaign to keep the central library at Crown Street appears to have been in vain.

“On a separate note, we are encouraged that the council is willing to work with the community to secure a future for Cockerton Library.”

Paul Howell of the Friends of Darlington Library, said the group had no intention of giving up its fight to save Crown Street and encouraged people to lobby their councillors ahead of the vote to approve plans.

He added: “We encourage people not to give up the fight at this stage.”