Prior to the 21st July 2015 full council meeting (where libraries were due to be discussed at length), Ella Davies of Friends of Sea Mills Library submitted a statement to the council, which she would then read. As it happened, an announcement that the council made a few days before the meeting meant that the statement no longer needed to be read as written, but as with all statements submitted, Ella received this official reply from Mayor George Ferguson.
“Dear Ms Davies,
Thank you for summiting your statement to Full council in regards to the Sea Mills Library. Your comments have been forwarded to the Head of Libraries to be considered as part of wider discussions.
The proposal is currently being revised and coming to cabinet on 1st September, to retain 27 libraries, which will include Sea Mills Library. This will allow Neighbourhoods Scrutiny to have further time to consider the detail of the proposals in the report and prepare their submission for Cabinet.
If the proposal is agreed, this will mean Sea Mills Library can continue to do the excellent work on literacy with school children in the all schools mentioned.
The new library service going forward will become more tailored to local needs and there will be ample chance for current and new customers to be involved with the libraries. Within the revised proposal, Bristol will have more libraries per head of population than any other major city in the UK.
Yours sincerely,
George Ferguson CBE
Mayor of Bristol”
