There is a community emergency, the county council, its elected representatives and its ALEO (Arms-Length External Organisation) have decided to close our village library, and those of six or seven other rural communities in Perthshire. Whilst the County Council have brayed about the information related to these closures being "in the public domain" since the decision was made back at the end of last year it appears that elected representatives have been somewhat circumspect in their duties to inform the communities via the community councils. The long and short of this is that the proposal to close the libraries only became public knowledge following the ALEO issuing a wonderfully obtuse survey to library users, not actually mentioning the intention to close the library. This is a situation occurring all across Scotland, in one form or another, and I believe across England, although perhaps not managed in such an apparently underhand manner. I've been writing Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and then trawling through the outcomes to try to get at the details of the decision making process and the finances.
Save Comrie Library From Closure!
The creation of ALEOs, hiving off, "non-essential" services like libraries, museums, art galleries, sports centres and swimming pools, has become common practice amongst local authorities across the UK. In the case of Perth and Kinross Council these were created in 2016 and in my opinion the intention was always to create a buffer between the council and the electorate to prepare for cutting these services. One reason for the creation of ALEOs is that they may then apply for external funding that is not available to local authorities. However, in reality this is truly a bit of a smokescreen given the monies involved and how difficult it is to obtain such external funding in the climate of the former slash and burn Westminster Tory government. Whilst the Scottish Government and the Barnett Formula might attempt to provide a buffer to try to protect some Scottish services, for this particular ALEO to somehow come up with nearly £1,000,000 (Bank of England inflation calculator) to hold its funding at 2016 levels is unrealistic. Initial budget funded by Perth and Kinross Council in 2016 c£3,400,000 (worth c£4,500,000 in today's money), latest service fee from the council to the ALEO in April 2024 was c£3,500,000.
There is some interesting research by UEA carried out on Suffolk libraries demonstrating that for every £1 spent on library provision the economic benefit is about £6. I'm struggling to find the URL for this, but will post it here when I do. I have an electronic copy that I'm happy to share though if anyone would like one.
There is no good news at the moment it seems. The industrialisation of our countryside is to continue with windfarms proposed, and no doubt put through on the nod by the Scottish Government in Glen Lednock at Invergeldie and Glen Tarken. Effectively this is one large scheme with two owners SSE and Oxygen Conservation. So much for the Scottish Government's biodiversity aims! These schemes will involve ploughing huge access roads through moorland. I do wonder what the CO2 costs and gains are over the life of windfarms like these. With the disturbance of the moorland, the concrete, the manufacture of the structures, the constant vehicular access to remote areas etc. Added to this is the upgrading of the transmission infrastructure, mostly above ground and involving more huge industrial structures. Hard to find figures for this information. It is worth reading this paper - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484721010805 My MP and MSP have studiously avoided my letters on this matter.
And then of course Trump...
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