Suffolk County Council approved their budget proposals at February’s full council meeting which included a reduction to the library service budget of £650,000 over two years. Suffolk Libraries Board have since agreed to the reduction of £350,000 for 2016/17.
The further savings needed to meet our new budget for 2016/17 should not have any significant impact on the frontline library service this year and Suffolk Libraries is committed to not closing any libraries during the life of the current contract.
We are still in discussions about the further saving for 2017/18 but will continue to work closely and positively with the county council throughout the year and will keep everyone informed.
As you may have seen from last week’s national and regional media coverage, many libraries have closed across the country but the story in Suffolk is still a very positive one where all 44 libraries have remained open and with the support of our community groups, Suffolk Libraries has even been able to introduce new services and provides an increasingly diverse range of services and activities. For example – the Community Group in Beccles is funding an increase in opening hours at their library from April 2016 and the community groups at Kesgrave and Glemsford are supporting refurbishment work at their libraries.
As always we are grateful to all our customers and community groups for their ongoing support of our library service.