MALVERN and Upton residents will be able to have their say on plans to reduce both of the town’s library opening hours next week.
It follows plans by Worcestershire County Council to cut down the hours in a bid to meet a savings target of £3.7m by 2018/19.
Information sessions will be held at Malvern Library on Graham Road, next Wednesday and Friday from 2.30pm to 4.30pm with the public invited to air their views on the changes and share ideas they may have.
Upton-upon-Severn Library on School Lane is also holding information sessions next Wednesday at 2.30pm and Friday at 10am.
Saving plans from Worcestershire County Council include a proposal to reduce library opening hours by 78.5 hours in total across the county, excluding Worcester’s The Hive, and will see Malvern Library’s opening hours reduced by six hours.
The Graham Road building currently opens from 9am to 5.30pm Monday, 9am to 8pm on Tuesday and Wednesday and 9am to 5.30pm between Thursday and Saturdays.
Should proposals go through, the library will close at 5pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday along with a new closure time of 4pm on Saturday.
Upton-upon-Severn’s Library faces a slightly bigger reduction of six and a half hours should the cost-cutting plans be given the green light.
The bulk of the cut will see its Saturday opening times cut from 4.30pm to 1pm and its Monday, Wednesday and Friday closure time change from 5.30pm to 4.30pm.
Library managers will be available for the two sessions during the week to discuss the proposed changes and answer questions.
The information sessions follow a 30-day staff consultation period and ongoing engagement with the service’s partners and co-located services.
Coun Lucy Hodgson, cabinet member for localism and communities at Worcestershire County Council, said: “We are very proud of our record of keeping every library in Worcestershire open, despite the financial challenges that we are facing.
“Unfortunately we are having to consider a small reduction in library opening hours in order to achieve the savings target the council has been set.
“We have already analysed user activity, consulted with staff and discussed with partners, as we are determined that the changes we are introducing will have minimum effect on the people who use our libraries.”
