Libraries could shut amid unpaid debt row

Campaigners want to save the Dovecot and Breck Road Libraries

A row between a charity and a council over unpaid debts could see some libraries closed.

Liverpool City Council said The Alt Valley Community Trust (AVCT) in Liverpool owes it a "substantial" amount of money going back over "many years".

But AVCT said it has been running the libraries at a fraction of the cost the council ran them at, and disputed it owed anything.

Labour West Derby MP Ian Byrne said he wanted both sides to "sit down" and find a solution.

The Dovecot Library is based in the Multi Activity Centre

The running of Dovecot and Breck Road libraries was handed to the AVCT in 2015, when the council said it could no longer afford to run them itself.

But amid the current row over debt, the council has said it will not release the funding it provides for the libraries.

The charity said without the money - thought to be about £100,000 for the two sites - the libraries would have to close.

A sign inside Dovecot library says: "Due to the actions of Liverpool Council, the library may be forced to close within the coming weeks."

Speaking at a meeting at the library, where campaigners gathered to show their support for the service, West Derby's Labour MP Ian Byrne said: "We're really fearful that potentially this community library, a much-loved resource could go.

"Once you lose a resource, you don't get it back and it's such a fundamental part of why this community loves this place is because of the library."

He said he had asked the council to maintain the funding for the libraries while negotiations took place.

Alt Valley Community Trust's deputy chief executive Danielle Forman said the charity did not believe it owed anything

AVCT deputy chief executive Danielle Forman said: "We've run these libraries at a fraction of the cost of what the council could do. That's why we stepped in to run them in the first place."

She added: "We dispute the debt, we dispute that there is anything due, but we are more than keen to sit down and find a way through it."

She said she understood the council had to provide good value for money but said she believed the charity was giving "the best value for the taxpayers".

She added the charity believed it was being made out to be "the villain" in the row, and was "disappointed" with the way the row had played out in public.

"We want to sit down with the right people and find a way out" she said.

Eileen O'Shaughnessy said she was disappointed the libraries were under threat

Resident Eileen O'Shaughnessy attended the protest because she felt it was "important" to have a library in Dovecot where "there isn't much else" for young families and teenagers.

She said: "I don't follow the politics of it, but I am very disappointed that it's all come down to money – because it shouldn't."

The council's deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, Ruth Bennett, said: "Regrettably, despite extensive efforts and multiple extensions to resolve issues, AVCT have not taken up our offer to come up with an affordable repayment plan.

The council cannot continue to provide grant funding to organisations that owe significant sums of money.

"We again urge AVCT to come and meet with council officers and discuss repayment.

Should AVCT choose to close their facilities, we will promote alternative ways to access library services."