Croydon Council’s continuing failure to meet the terms of their partnership agreement with Lambeth Council, caused yet another meeting of The Upper Norwood Joint Library Committee to be abandoned last Thursday, the 15 September, when more than seventy people attended the Library Annual General Meeting, where the future of the 111-year old Library was to be considered.
The meeting turned to farce when it became apparent that the Lambeth representatives had not turned up; concerned that their presence could be seen as legitimising Croydon’s repeated decision not to nominate two local councillors to the Committee. In a well rehearsed show of disingenuousness, Croydon Cabinet Member, Cllr Sara Bashford, speculated that, “..if they are stuck in traffic” they would let her know.
However, the CPCA has been made aware that, on the afternoon of the meeting, Lambeth Cabinet Member, Cllr. Florence Nosegbe, telephoned Cllr. Bashford to advise her that Lambeth members would not be attending as a consequence of Croydon’s continued refusal to appoint two local Croydon councillors to the Committee: a fundamental requirement of a 2006 amendment to the Joint Library agreement, agreed by both parties.
Attending, as a Library Committee member, was the ubiquitous Cllr. Steve O’Connell, previously described by the press as the highest paid councillor in the country. In a preposterous statement of justification, Croydon Cabinet Member Cllr. Sara Bashford referred to him as, “your elected GLA member” that “people in Upper Norwood have voted for“. However the Library Agreement makes no provision for such nomination, stating; “Furthermore at least two Members from each party should represent the Upper Norwood area and at least one should have some executive responsibility for libraries“.
Despite Croydon-produced evidence to the contrary, Cllr. Bashford refused to accept the legality of the agreement and asked their legal officer, Solomon Agutu, to justify her stance. Mr Agutu said that “those who wish to challenge the legality of the Agreement should do it in the right place and not here” and he invited those who wished to contest Croydon’s position to do it “through the courts.“
Note: CPCA and Library Campaign representatives recently met at Chambers with barrister, Professor William Rees who advised that any meeting of the Upper Norwood Joint Library Committee that did not satisfy all the requirements of the agreement would be unconstitutional and unlawful.
There are concerns at the prospect of a Joint Library Committee dominated by Croydon Cabinet Members, particularly when the latter chair the Joint Library Committee. The Committee chair holds a casting vote in the event of any deadlock or failure to agree on future Joint Library policy, possible cuts, or even closure of the service.
The current administration in Croydon have a history of misrepresenting the Joint Library’s value for money, as a means of justifying low levels of funding and the scrapping of the library’s popular independent status. Independent studies have shown that the Joint Library service is proportionately around 50% cheaper than the Croydon library service.
Croydon Council leader, Cllr. Mike Fisher, knows that by meeting the terms of the Joint Library agreement he would be obliged to nominate two opposition members to the Committee. This would remove his ability to force through the sort of damaging measures that are being inflicted on Croydon’s own libraries, such as significant staff redundancies, reduced opening, privatisation or closure.
3 October 2011 – Mike Warwick has written and sent a letter to the Croydon Advertiser and Croydon Guardian on behalf of the CPCA about the ongoing political situation concerning the Upper Norwood Joint Library. See the letter below.
History repeated itself when the 2011 Upper Norwood Joint Library Committee AGM scheduled for 15th September 2011 was unable to proceed, just like the 2010 AGM.
At 7.30 pm, only four Croydon Councillors were in attendance, who did not include two councillors from local wards, as required by agreement between Croydon and Lambeth, operative since 2006 when Lambeth appointed two councillors from local wards…but newly appointed to the UNJLC was ubiquitous Croydon Councillor Steve O’Connell, described as perhaps the highest paid councillor in the country, who said ‘I am a London Assembly Member and I can be appointed to any Croydon Committee.’
When Croydon Cllr Sara Bashford, Cabinet Member Customer Services, said she would give the Labour Councillors fifteen minutes in case they had been held up, she was reminded that the absent Councillors were Lambeth Councillors and political identity should be irrelevant, Cllr Bashford then apologised for what she described as a slip.
Although Cllr Bashford said as the meeting was not quorate it could not proceed and she did not know why the Lambeth Councillors were not attending, CPCA Chair John Payne said he had been told earlier that Lambeth Councillors would not be attending, and that Lambeth Councillor Florence Nosegbe had also formally advised Cllr Bashford earlier that day.
When asked by a member of the public if it was not the case that Croydon in appointing members to the UNJLC who were not local ward members were in breach of agreement, Cllr Bashford tried to veil the issue by saying Croydon could appoint who they wished, and that challenge on the legality of UNJLC Meetings and that Croydon had done something wrong was coming from residents groups, not from Lambeth Council.
Perhaps Councillor Bashford’s recollection is not serving her well, as at the aborted 2010 UNJLC AGM, Lambeth Councillors Florence Nosegbe, Matthew Bennett, Jane Pickard and Jenny Brathwaite made clear, in no uncertain terms, that they would not recognise a UNJLC Meeting that did not meet the terms of the UNJLC agreement of 2006, which provided for appointment by Croydon and Lambeth of two local ward councillors.
In an attempt to force through draconian measures at the successful Upper Norwood Library, Croydon Council have said the agreement to appoint local Ward Councillors is not binding, as it was not ratified by incorporation into Croydon’s Constitution.
If this is the case, why has Croydon waited five years since this provision was agreed and implemented, and why have thousands of agreements similarly reached by Authorised Croydon Officers, been implemented without incorporation into Croydon’s Constitution?
Lambeth Gipsy Hill Ward Councillor Matthew Bennett has stated “Last year the Library committee meeting descended into farce when Croydon refused to appoint locally elected councillors, as has always been the case; instead appointing senior Tory councillors from the south of the Borough. Lambeth has always stuck to the principle of appointing local councillors to the committee, even when this meant appointing opposition councillors, Croydon should accept that local people want local representation for their library.”
In transposition of the facts, Croydon Council Leader Mike Fisher takes the opportunity to inflame the situation with inaccurate claim that he believes Lambeth were in breach of the 1994 joint agreement which was effecting governance of the library and that he doesn’t tell Lambeth who they should appoint and he doesn’t expect them to tell him.
Councillor Fisher is disingenuous, as Lambeth is not telling him who Croydon should appoint to the UNJLC, but requiring Croydon to recognise the agreement they are party to, and which has been in place for years, in making its appointments to the UNJLC.
There is compelling evidence that Croydon is contriving a situation whereby they can show that governance of the Library has broken down, justifying withdrawal from the Upper Norwood Joint Library agreement, enabling the staff redundancies, reduced opening hours, privatisation and total closure being proposed for Croydon’s Libraries.
Councillor Fisher and Croydon Council can expect sustained opposition to draconian measures at the Upper Norwood Joint Library, one of the most successful and well run in the country, as support for the ‘SAVE OUR LIBRARY’ campaign is growing daily and includes Tessa Jowell MP, Malcolm Wicks MP, London Assembly Member Val Shawcross, Croydon Councillor Pat Ryan and other local community associations.
Mike Warwick
Crystal Palace Community Association (CPCA)
c/o 10 Jasper Road
London, SE19 1SJ
020 8670 4395