Devon County Council’s Cabinet will be asked to re-consider its previous decision to decommission the council’s mobile library service.
The Cabinet took the decision in July to decommission the mobile library service and instead invest additional money improving existing library services that serve customers in their own homes. But that decision was ‘called-in’ by other members of the council to allow further scrutiny.
Today (Thursday 28 September), in a majority vote, members of the council’s cross-party Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee agreed new recommendations that Cabinet will now consider when it meets on Wednesday 11 October.
Those recommendations are that the Cabinet:
- Reconsiders the decision to decommission the mobile library vehicles and looks again at continuing to provide the mobile library service
- Gets precise figures on leasing vehicles to review opportunities to continue to provide a cost effective service
- Looks into opportunities to reduce cost of delivery including commercial sponsorship opportunities on vehicles, crowdfunding and or support from Parish Councils and community groups
- Develops alternative library provision before taking the decision to remove services