Questions Remain About Transfer of Broughty Ferry Library

In Thursday's Evening Telegraph and Friday's Courier, I raised issues about the proposed transfer of management of our library in Broughty Ferry to an arms length, Leisure and Cultural Services Trust.

Please can the Leader of the Council, Ken Guild, respond to the issues I have raised and not deflect these as 'obscure political points'?

Firstly, why has his administration chosen not to set up a new arms length organisation specifically for libraries and museums? This arms length body will require a majority of independent and unpaid board
members. If it focuses just on Libraries and Museums it's not difficult to imagine appropriately qualified volunteers coming forward. But lumping in all of Dundee Leisure's empire of sports halls, pitches and swimming pools doesn't to my mind add up into a coherent set of activities. I think it will lead to a divided board between those with sports and those with cultural interests. The option of a stand alone charitable 'cultural organisation' to manage libraries, museums and the Caird Hall is dismissed in one paragraph (para 6.2 page 105) in the
Committee Report for the budget meeting next week. This is hardly an option appraisal.

Secondly, I am also worried that the external legal advice to be sought by the council is only to determine ensuring:
'(1) maximistation of financial savings to the council;
(2) protection for the staff being transferred.' (para 6.3 page 105)

What about the protection of book borrowing and reading provided 'free' at the point of use? This seems like another example of short term cuts and long term damage to local services.

Maybe Councillor Guild can whip his SNP group to vote this through at the Budget meeting on Thursday 10 February, but if won't mean he has won the argument in the Ferry. If he barges ahead, folk in the Ferry may want to examine the terms of the 1913 Boundaries Act. If, like me, they see their library under threat, they may want to use the law to push for another option that adequately protects their library for the future.

Broughty Ferry deserves better.

Broughty Library - Is Transfer of Management Legal and Wise?

As part of the SNP's budget cuts,the well used and much loved Broughty Ferry Library will be set to managed by an arms length body, a not for profit organisation, rather than directly by the Council. While this is claimed to save money, is it legal and is the proposed form of management the best option?

Our Broughty Ferry library was one of the incentives provided by the then City Council to entice the former Broughty Ferry Borough Council to throw in their lot with Dundee. The 1913 Act of Parliament that annexed Broughty Ferry to Dundee made it clear that Dundee Council would provide and maintain a library in Broughty Ferry within five years of the annexation. This was duly provided. I am querying now how how this commitment stands. Can the council claim that it meeting this historic obligation while passing it on to an arms length body not under the direct control of the council?

Whether or not it is legally feasible, and I am sure legal officers will report on this, I am not convinced that the proposed successor body is the best solution for our library in the Ferry. The SNP led council's solution is to pass our library on to a reconstituted and expanded Dundee Leisure Trust along with all the other libraries in Dundee and the museums. I think at the very least a separate trust should be considered for Museums and Libraries in the city.

Do swimming pools, gyms, libraries and museums hang together? I notice that leading private sector leisure companies, such as David Lloyd Leisure and Bannantine Leisure Clubs don't also run museums and libraries. Will the independent directors of the proposed company have broad enough interests to focus on libraries and community learning as well as aerobics, swimming and hockey?

I think Councillor Ken Guild, Leader of the Council, should think again about the wisdom of the changes to library management his administration is proposing for Broughty Ferry.

Link to story in The Dundee Courier

First Click Courses in Broughty Ferry & Dundee

Using computers and the internet is easier than you think. You can join a beginners' course and have a go using a computer for yourself.

Free short courses are starting soon at libraries in Dundee.

To find out about courses available ring:

Freephone 08000 150 950

8am to 10pm, 7 days a week

To book a place in Broughty Ferry community library, drop into the library or ring the library 01382 436919

Santa Claus Visits Broughty Ferry Library on Saturday Morning

Santa Claus is taking time out from his busy schedule for a flying visit to Broughty Ferry Library between 10am and 12noon on Saturday 11 December.

Children of all ages are welcome.
Entry is free.

There will also be festive crafts.


Broughty Ferry Library
Queen Street
Broughty Ferry
DD5 2HN
tel 01382 436919

Promoted by Leisure and Communities

Broughty Ferry Local History Group Launch WW2 Display at The Library

Broughty Ferry Local History Group meet in Broughty Ferry Library on alternate Thursdays to reminisce and to research and record aspects of everyday life in 'the village' down the years.

They are currently engaged in a substantial project to create a community archive relating to life in the 1940s and 1950s. As part of this longer term project, they have recently created a small collection of artifacts which are currently on display in Broughty Library to mark the seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. This display consists of a montage of items designed to present a 'snapshot' of Broughty as it was in 1939, the last year before the outbreak of the conflict. It consists of shop adverts relating to businesses which once operated in the area, researched items from local newspapers and Dundee City Council minutes relating to events in Broughty at the time, together with personal items and recollections submitted by group members. It is designed as a prelude to a further display which they hope to mount in the New Year relating to the war itself and the years immediately after.

The display will be on view till the end of the month during the normal Broughty Ferry Library opening hours. The group invites people to come and see it and, if they are interested, to join them in their meetings in the Library every second Thursday at 2pm during term time.

Councillor Laurie Bidwell said:
"This relatively new group have got off to a really positive start with the helpful support of Community Learning & Development staff from the Leisure and Communities Department. I have enjoyed looking at their display in the Library today. I am delighted that they have been able to share their artifacts and reminiscences with pupils from Eastern Primary School. I look forward to the sharing of their longer term project to record life in Broughty Ferry during the 1930s and 1940s. I hope many residents will take advantage of the opportunity to see the display in the library."