Closure ‘not an option’ for Whitwell, Clowne and Creswell libraries as council encourages community management

It comes after a book group raised concerns about the future of Whitwell Library as they announced a new year-long programme of author readings to increase the footfall in the centre.

Five years ago Derbyshire Council unveiled plans to transfer 20 of their libraries, including Whitwell, Clowne and Creswell, to community or voluntary management in a bid to save the council £1.6 million.

A council meeting last year revealed an uncertain future for the branches when it emerged that only one of the libraries had been taken on.

A report discussed by councillors at the time stated that a “lack of customer/community support” could result in the library service having to make “further significant reductions to opening hours, staffing, the materials fund and mobile library provisions”, which could see some libraries “open for less than one day a week with few, or no new books or resources added to stock”.

Currently one library in Woodville has been passed over, and only three more – Old Whittington, Wingerworth and Tideswell – have acquired expressions of interest and/or business cases.

However the council has reassured that closure is “not an option” that is being considered, even if there is no community uptake to take on the libraries.

A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: “We agreed in 2018 that 20 out of our 45 libraries should be transferred to community management as this was the best way to ensure the services could continue and thrive and keep all library branches open across the county.

“This was paused during the pandemic, but we are continuing to work hard to engage with communities, groups and volunteers and have already had one successful transfer, with three more in the pipeline.

“If in the future there is no take up by communities in some areas we will have to take a fresh look at our ‘Libraries for Derbyshire’ plan and consider different ways of delivering the service, but people can be assured that closures are not an option we will be considering.”

To find out more about ‘Libraries for Derbyshire’ and about running a community library, please visit: www.derbyshire.gov.uk/librariesforderbyshire