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Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

67.

Declarations of Interest

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any Personal, Disclosable Pecuniary or other interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer announced that it was acknowledged that the majority of Members were likely to be a user of their local library and that this constituted a personal interest.

Councillors Billy Drummond, Lee Dillon, Mollie Lock, Lynne Doherty, Jeanette Clifford, Dominic Boeck, Hilary Cole, Rick Jones, Mike Johnston, Steve Ardagh-Walter, Richard Crumly, Rob Denton-Powell, Anthony Pick, Richard Somner, Paul Hewer, Jeff Beck, Adrian Edwards, Carol Jackson-Doerge, Roger Croft, James Fredrickson, Howard Bairstow, Gordon Lundie and Pamela Bale declared an interest in Agenda Item 3, but reported that, as their interest was a personal and not an other registrable interest nor a disclosable pecuniary interest, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

68.

Library Service Review (C3208) pdf icon PDF 62 KB

To report on the public consultation about the future shape of the Library Service and determine the best option for the structure of this service.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(Councillors Billy Drummond, Lee Dillon, Mollie Lock, Lynne Doherty, Jeanette Clifford, Dominic Boeck, Hilary Cole, Rick Jones, Mike Johnston, Steve Ardagh-Walter, Richard Crumly, Rob Denton-Powell, Anthony Pick, Richard Somner, Paul Hewer, Jeff Beck, Adrian Edwards, Carol Jackson-Doerge, Roger Croft, James Fredrickson and Howard Bairstow declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 3 by virtue of the fact that they were dual hatted Members and contributions were being sought from town and parish councils towards funding of libraries. As their interest was personal and not an other registrable nor a disclosable pecuniary interest they determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillors Howard Bairstow and Adrian Edwards declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 3 by virtue of the fact that they were trustees of the Friends of Wash Common Library Group. As their interest was personal and not an other registrable nor a disclosable pecuniary interest they determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.)

(Councillor Pamela Bale declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 3 by virtue of the fact that she was a member of the Friends of Pangbourne Library Group. As her interest was personal and not an other registrable nor a disclosable pecuniary interest she determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Gordon Lundie declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 3 by virtue of the fact that he was a member of the Friends of Lambourn Library Group. As his interest was personal and not an other registrable nor a disclosable pecuniary interest he determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Mollie Lock declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 3 by virtue of the fact that she was a member of Mortimer Parish Council and its Library Working Party. As her interest was personal and not an other registrable nor a disclosable pecuniary interest she determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 3) which had been drafted following a public consultation on the future shape of the Library Service and sought agreement for the best option for the structure of the service.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Dominic Boeck and seconded by Councillor Hilary Cole:

That:

1.     “The Council approves the adoption of Option A as the most appropriate structure for the Libraries Service, with the proviso that different arrangements will be necessary in some libraries.

2.     Officers examine opportunities to pilot community run services, where communities provided sufficient support, in line with Options B and C in order to achieve the full savings target of £690k, and that this could include consideration of any proposal from the community in Wash Common.”

Councillor Boeck commented that in 2015/16 West Berkshire Council had been presented with a significantly reduced Revenue Support Grant. The Council therefore had to consider difficult options in order to ensure that it met its statutory duty to present  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.