London council confirms closure of three libraries in bid to stave off bankruptcy

Havering Council has confirmed it will close three borough libraries by April after months of controversy. Libraries in South Hornchurch, Gidea Park and Harold Wood will be closed to save money, cabinet members agreed on Wednesday. The three centres were chosen due to their low footfall, the council said. In their place, councillors plan to open new community venues and a centre for respite care. The council hopes to see an extra floor built on the South Hornchurch community centre, and a new care facility to complement a planned special needs school in Gidea Park.

Councillors are also in early talks to continue library services in Harold Wood through community centres. The town hall had faced a sustained local campaign against the plans, which were announced last May, over concerns children and families would be deprived. Residents and campaigners previously said the closures would hit the “poorest and most vulnerable” the hardest. Numerous demonstrations were held outside the town hall, with hundreds of residents calling on the council to “save our libraries”.

Deputy leader Gillian Ford told councillors and residents last night the council needed the £288,000 their closures would save, in light of a £71million budget gap it faces in the coming year. She said the council had “no other choice” but to make cuts to its services. Havering Council was forced to borrow £32.5m from central government last year, and is expected to borrow millions more to balance this year’s budget.

Keeping the libraries open would cost the council around £850,000, Cllr Ford said, based on surveys and estimated repair costs. She told councillors and residents that “no one in the chamber came into local government to close libraries”. She said that, if the libraries were to stay open, the other libraries would be “at risk” of deterioration. The deputy leader also pointed to the previous Conservative administration, voted out in 2022, for having not set aside a budget for library maintenance.

East Havering Residents Group leader Martin Goode said the impact on residents’ quality of life had not been considered and they were being “let down”. He said: “We can play around with figures all night long, but the cost and devastation it’s going to have for residents who use these libraries, I don’t think you can measure. “It won’t equate to the amount of money you will save.”. A representative from trade union UNISON said that the council closing any libraries did not reflect that the council had listened to the residents’ “clear message”. She said: “The message to residents in Havering is that [the consultation] was a waste of time.”.

A spokesperson for the union said afterwards the move was “profoundly disappointing”. The decision to specifically close the libraries was challenged by Conservative group leader Keith Prince, who questioned why it was necessary to “affect so many residents”. He also asked the leadership why they were “ignoring” the results of the consultation, after 82% of residents said they did not want to see “any closures”.

During a lengthy debate, Cllr Ford said the savings were already written into the budget and the council needed to prove to the government it was making savings, after borrowing such a large sum last year. Finance director Kathy Freeman added it would be “very difficult” to make substitutions due to the “intense” scrutiny from Whitehall. Romford Central Library, Harold Hill Library, Hornchurch Library, Upminster Library and Rainham Library will all remain open.