Comment on Lambeth council announces proposals for a new Waterloo library location by Laura Swaffield
Good to know Waterloo finally moving out of that tiny space, far smaller than former “portakabin”, hard to find and unstaffed almost all the time. But hang on a sec! Lambeth has indeed been less silly about libraries for some years (though it spends just HALF of what Southwark spends). But that went into screeching reverse in Feb 2025 when it suddenly decided to slash libraries’ very tight (£4.5m) budget by £1m – almost A QUARTER. Without, of course, consulting the library staff. The reason they are still spending £4m pa is that the Directors did not know what they were doing and the full cut they wanted was impossible. They have cut half of that million mainly by keeping staff posts unfilled, so many staff are now working long extra hours unpaid to keep things going. Some credit where credit is due – those refurbs were badly needed – but don’t push your luck, Lambeth, by talking about libraries being “well-staffed by trained librarians”.
Black News 
Good to know Waterloo finally moving out of that tiny space, far smaller than former “portakabin”, hard to find and unstaffed almost all the time. But hang on a sec! Lambeth has indeed been less silly about libraries for some years (though it spends just HALF of what Southwark spends). But that went into screeching reverse in Feb 2025 when it suddenly decided to slash libraries’ very tight (£4.5m) budget by £1m – almost A QUARTER. Without, of course, consulting the library staff. The reason they are still spending £4m pa is that the Directors did not know what they were doing and the full cut they wanted was impossible. They have cut half of that million mainly by keeping staff posts unfilled, so many staff are now working long extra hours unpaid to keep things going. Some credit where credit is due – those refurbs were badly needed – but don’t push your luck, Lambeth, by talking about libraries being “well-staffed by trained librarians”.
.jpeg?width=1200&auto=webp&crop=3:2#)
.png)
