LIBRARY experts have criticised Swindon Council over inadequate consultation and jumping to conclusions over library closures.

The council has been urged to consider alternative proposals, including finding savings at management level and merging libraries with post offices or doctors’ surgeries.

Roy Clare, the head of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), visited Swindon to see for himself the libraries under threat.

The budget passed by Swindon Council on Monday seeks to save £97,000 from the library budget. The suggestion is to achieve this through the closure of Old Town library and the use of volunteers to staff the Walcot amenity.

There will be a consultation until June over the future of Even Swindon and Gorse Hill libraries.

Mr Clare said: “I came to listen to what people are saying about the situation in Swindon. The first thing I would say is that I visited the new Central Library and compared with any library in the country it is magnificent.

“But I have also been listening to people in Old Town and their concerns over the closure of their library. There is a sense that local people don’t feel they have been consulted in the run up to this.

“It is not for me to criticise the council, but in our terms of best practice a consultation should engage with the people. In this case it seems that the process of consultation may have been rather swift.”

Mr Clare went on to say that he thought the decision to close Old Town Library was justified on the grounds of its size and relative under-use but praised the campaign, led by Shirley Burnham, to save it.

He also suggested that post offices or doctors’ surgeries could share premises with libraries.

Another big name in the book world who has joined forces with campaigners is former Waterstone’s managing director Tim Coates. Since 1998 Mr Coates, who lived for several years in Swindon, has been advising councils on the public library service. His report, which was presented to Swindon Council’s cabinet before the budget, recommends finding savings in other areas of the service.

Mr Coates said: “In the report I say that the cabinet did not have all the information that it needed when it came to the conclusion that closing libraries was the only way to get to those savings. I haven’t had access to all the figures so it is difficult to be precise about exactly where the savings could come from but I understand they could come from the library management cost. The central overhead costs also need to be shown to councillors.

“There are ways of saving money without damaging the library service.”

Mr Coates added: “Shirley Burnham has been absolutely brilliant. What she has been doing is so important for the community, and the council must realise that she is not the enemy. I know the Advertiser has also been very good in reporting the story.”