What price three stars?

Three years ago the Friends of Castleton Library (FoCaL) say they were told by a now-early retired council officer that "the Audit Commission was concerned about the number of libraries in Rochdale and that they considered this to be inefficient".

FoCaL say they have now learned that the conditions attached to the Council receiving the three-star rating  was closure of the “stand-alone” libraries, the first one to be closed being Castleton.

Sheila Whitworth, Chairwoman of Focal says: "Is yours next? What about Middleton, Heywood, Darnhill, Alkrington, etc.?

"Please don’t allow your history and heritage to be sacrificed the way Castleton’s has. Our Carnegie built library (the first free branch library in Rochdale) has been closed. Our Councillors have not fought with us to save it; rather they have fought against us and allowed it to close. Lobby your Councillors. Demand that your heritage is respected and not denigrated the way ours has been.

"It’s no wonder Councillor Pat Flynn says “that is over” with regard to Castleton’s closure. Oh how she wishes that to be the case, but it is not over. Until our Councillors own up to the fact that they have sacrificed Castleton’s history and heritage for the metaphorical “thirty pieces of silver” and do something positive about restoring it, then it will not be over. Nor will it be forgotten.

"Our questions are left unanswered until they can be conveniently turned around in reply. This is manoeuvring of the highest order. We ask a question and suddenly it becomes the idea of our councillors to preserve the building! We ask a question and suddenly it becomes the idea of our councillors to create a conservation area! We ask a question and suddenly it becomes the idea of our councillors that the buildings are very interesting and are part of our heritage! We ask a question and suddenly it becomes the idea of our councillors that these buildings should be saved and that they have been working on it for the past months!

"This is an absolute load of nonsense. They were hoping to close the library “by the back door” as it were and that no-one would notice. Wrong! And all this in exchange for a third “star” for the council. It was stated in the “anonymous” leaflet they are bleating about that they should be ashamed."

Pam Smith, Head of Performance and Development for the Council, said: "The Council's star rating is based purely on objective measurement of its performance against national standards.  Although the overall quality of the libraries service is taken into account in judging the Council's performance, decisions on how the service is provided are entirely a matter for councillors."

Tony Cox, Regional Communications Manager for the Audit Commission, said: "The allegations by FoCaL are simply untrue. There are no conditions attached to our CPA scores; either a council meets the criteria for a given star rating or it doesn't. Decisions on how many libraries to operate are for Rochdale Council and its councillors to make."