The public libraries in Westdene and Hollingbury, along with Rottingdean, are facing closure, if plans by the Labour Council to cut costs in the Library Service budget go ahead. After a brief consultation process, the fate of these local libraries, valued by the communities that they have served for over sixty years, is due to be decided on December 11th.
Local authorities around the country are facing huge funding pressure and finding it difficult to provide statutory services. Libraries have been dealing with reductions in budgets for many years, while they try to modernise and engage with communities to remain relevant in an increasingly digital age. We should, however, consider the legacy we have been left by previous generations who designed, paid for and built these community hubs, where we meet, read, learn and explore.
Westdene Library opened on 13 March 1964, just three years after the school. The library was designed and built to work together with the school, having a separate corridor at the back for the children to access it. Teachers have used the library since then for their classes to provide free access to a large range of books and other resources. I went in there often as a child in the 1970s. I remember it as a warm bright space full of interesting books which we didn’t have at home. Later on, with my own family, we used the library as we brought up our three children and they went to the school. They all loved going there, either after school or at other times, to be read to and to borrow new books. They were also frequently taken into the library with classmates by their teachers for reading lessons. Having so much choice in a non commercial space is an almost unique experience in today’s world.
The library is valued by the local community and has provided a range of services, including access to newspapers, magazines, DVDs, large print books, reference books and a wide selection of fiction titles. Many people use the computers there to find digital resources and for printing. It has also provided access to the wider collection of books and other resources in the Libraries Service for borrowing and returning.
For most of its existence, the library was properly staffed, five days a week by two librarians. This was cut to three days a week in the early 2000s. In 2016 significant reductions were made to the library by accommodating a classroom for the school, as it needed to expand from two forms to three per year group at that time. This went ahead despite it being the most unpopular of the proposals among the community, with seven in ten against the plans. Many parents of younger children are probably unaware that the library was a lot bigger before the changes made nine years ago. On reopening after this contraction in size, one librarian has worked there, for one day a week only. Libraries Extra members can enter the library on other days but older school children have been effectively excluded on those days, as they need to be sixteen or over to get a membership card with this access.
The current Hollingbury Library in Old Boat Corner Community Centre was set up in 2017, when the previous library in Carden Hill was closed. At the time, Councillor Alan Robins said: “We are modernising our library service to ensure we keep libraries open and keep them at the heart of the community.” It seems ironic only eight years later that these libraries at the heart of our communities could be closed by April next year.
CILIP, UK’s Library and Information Association, are aware that many local libraries are coming under pressure: ‘Once a library building is closed or a service is hollowed out, this represents a loss of opportunity for the people in the surrounding area - permanently impairing social mobility and life chances in the process.’
Looking back, these reductions in our library service seem like part of a managed decline. If these closures go ahead now, it does not augur well for other local libraries around Brighton and Hove. Libraries are not just rooms full of books. Of course, they cost us as taxpayers to be managed properly, but we should realise before it is too late, that they provide enormous value too.
CILIP refer to a 2023 report commissioned by Libraries Connected, Libraries for living, and for living better research, which showed that England's public libraries alone generate £3.4 billion a year following landmark analysis by economists from the University of East Anglia (UEA). They go on to state: Investing in libraries is an investment in the future of our communities, ensuring that they remain vibrant, inclusive, and thriving places for generations to come.
Several petitions have been started opposing the three library closures. ‘Save Westdene Library’ on Change.org has 1,774 verified signatures so far. It describes the library as an irreplaceable asset which simply cannot be lost and which is currently reduced to being open with a librarian just one day a week. ‘It is a very special place where children discover the magic of reading, develop vital skills and grow their confidence’, it reads. ‘It is a much valued quiet haven for us adults, away from our busy lives. The library is a fully accessible, warm, welcoming place everyone can enjoy and combats loneliness, which is on the rise. Libraries save over three times what they cost. With the cost of living crisis it is needed now more than ever.’
In February this year the Labour council agreed to cut £210,000 from the Libraries Service’s net budget of £4.1 million forecast for 2025/2026, as part of wider reductions to budgets in other areas. Closing Hollingbury Library would save £15,000, Rottingdean £25,000 and Westdene £20,000. The figures to keep the three libraries open are very small when compared with the overall budget and tiny compared to the Private Funding Initiative. Funding for maintenance, security and other services, including the book fund for Brighton and Hove libraries has been partially provided by a PFI, set up originally to pay for the building of the Jubilee library, which cost £11.92 million in 2004. The PFI has been amended with over 60 variations so far, but it is currently estimated to cost taxpayers £57 million over 25
years. £10.3 million in interest alone has been paid up to April 2025. From a Freedom of Information request earlier this year, the council’s reply showed that £15,656,000 is still to be paid by November 2029.
The Libraries Service prepared a document justifying the choice of the three libraries for closure by comparing footfall and usage numbers. They included Jubilee and Hove in the figures without providing any context of the huge space, funding and staffing differences between small local libraries and the large central ones. They also used estimations of local deprivation to justify moving the last remaining funding away from Hollingbury, Westdene and Rottingdean to keep libraries open in more deprived areas of the city. Figures were also presented for library service per head of population in other councils around the country being less than for Brighton and Hove. This was used as justification for the closure of three of our local libraries to bring residents of our city down to the national average. This could be referred to as a ‘levelling down’ approach.
During the consultation process, many respondents stressed the role local libraries play as community hubs, study spaces and safe environments for vulnerable people. Many emails were received by the council over this time and there is overwhelming opposition to the proposed closure in the Westdene community.
Alicia Buckingham lives close to the library on Bankside, Westdene, and said her four-year-old son had a strong connection to the library. "Every time we walk into the library, his eyes light up," she said. "Libraries aren't luxuries, they're lifelines. He loves reading, and when we go to the library he usually grabs animal stories and encyclopaedias. The library is where his dreams start to take shape. Close it and close off possibilities."
Towards the end of the consultation process, a meeting with about 150 members of the community was held at Westdene School and a smaller one in Hollingbury. Outside the school there was a protest with children taking part to show their objection to the planned closure. The meeting was supposed to give library users a chance to ask questions of Ceris Howard, Libraries Service Manager and Councillor Alan Robins. Various people spoke about how they use the library and asked whether different options could be considered to avoid the closures. It was not clear whether other methods of funding to keep the library open were being considered, either within the budget of the Libraries Service or from other potential areas. People spoke about the complete lack of events being run by the Library Service to increase attendance. Apparently Westdene Library has had no Council-managed events for over two years, while other Brighton libraries continue to host them regularly. This isn’t due to lack of community interest, as locals run book clubs and help at school events, yet the Council has offered no support since December 2023. Many there made the point that Patcham library is not a viable alternative to Withdean and Westdene residents, as it it is too far to walk and there are no direct bus routes. Other parents spoke about challenges with screen usage and smartphones for their children. They found it inconsistent that a council, claiming to support parents and local authority schools to reduce the usage of smartphones for young children, would be considering closing a very cheap to run local library. A lot of people left the meeting frustrated that the closures were being pushed through without proper thought as to the negative consequences and costs to the community.
The local Westdene community gave up 60% of their library space and books to accommodate the school’s temporary growth for just a few years. This coincided with a big reduction in staffed opening hours and was followed by lengthy closures during the Covid pandemic and then more for building repairs to the accessible footway to the entrance. The school is currently using the space it previously needed as a classroom for Music, but this could be relocated into one of the classrooms no longer needed, since the school moved back to two forms per year group. Hopefully the council will not go ahead with the closures but consider with the community how we all want to use this space, while continuing with the statutory provision of a library service in Westdene.
On funding issues, the council representatives refused to be drawn on costs of the PFI, saying that these are not related to the proposed library closures. We were told that the book fund, which is part of the PFI, as well as some digital services and newspapers, is very generous. Without providing any evidence, general comments by council officers about the PFI being good value have also been made. If this PFI is anything like many of the others set up in the early 2000s by councils around the country, there may be a lot to discover about the hidden costs of this particular contract.
On November 10th, ten councillors sat for a scrutiny committee meeting. Deputations were made by two community members against closure of Westdene library and one from Rottingdean. Another spokesperson of a group representing pensioners gave a short speech at the meeting about the effects of library closures on older members of the community, being lack of access to warm, safe spaces, digital exclusion and increased social isolation.
Councillors then asked questions of council officers representing the Libraries Service. It was clear that Councillors were not satisfied that the process so far has adequately considered the impact on equalities for vulnerable people, which it must do to meet statutory requirements. It was agreed by Councillors and by the Library Service manager that it would have been preferable to have written a planned strategy document, which will take the service up to the end of the PFI in 2029 and into 2030.
Older teenagers and young adults, including students, represent a large number of the wider library service users but they do not seem to have been reached effectively during the consultation process, with the Council’s young people representative noting this and suggesting that contacting them through local colleges should have been done. The outcome of the Scrutiny Committee meeting was that they decided unanimously to recommend that cabinet not go ahead with the closures of the
three libraries. They cited concerns about unforeseen costs. For example, will the local authority have to pay more in the education budget if the school is left without access to the books in the library and will the costs of social care go up if the closure of the library leads to increased isolation for older and vulnerable people? The final decision is due to be made by the cabinet on December 11th. Labour councillors have a large majority since the 2023 local elections and with cabinet not bound by Scrutiny Committee recommendations, they could go against these and close the libraries by April next year.
Funding pressures on local councils around the country are acute and most people are very aware of this. We are also aware that we are living through a time of divisive politics at all levels, so is it a coincidence that the three libraries up for closure are all in wards without a single Labour Councillor?
For Hollingbury, it seems that views of library users have not been fully considered and the lack of engagement during the consultation process and at the community meeting should not provide a green light for closure.
For Westdene, the reduction in the size of the library space, the loss of librarians and almost complete lack of activities and events have been detrimental to the service experience of the library’s users. This has had very predictable outcomes in reducing attendance. The council should consider integrating the space no longer used as a classroom by the school, which could soon be available. Finding a better, more sustainable use for the space by the local community could bring many benefits to it and even help with funding. With the Council retaining ownership for the library, the community and school would support it to flourish.
Sitting and reading in a warm local library is something we may have taken for granted over the years. If you want to keep your local library open, then email cabinet councillors to let them know. Their council email addresses are available on the council website.