Archived decisions

    AT A MEETING of the RECREATION AND HERITAGE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on Thursday 11 October, 2001

PRESENT:

    Councillors: M.S. Geddes (Chairman); Mrs. S.E. Allbright; R.J. Baulk; K.G. Chapman; P.J. Chegwyn; Dr. R.J. Ellis; E.F. Gale; Mrs. K. Heron; Mrs. P.G.E. Holden-Brown; Jo Kelly; Mrs. C.A. Leversha; P.K. Mason; P.A. Pierce; R.H. Price; Mrs. M.D. Snaith

    Councillor J. Waddington was also in attendance.

5 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 September, 2001 were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.

6 ANNUAL LIBRARY PLAN SEPTEMBER, 2001 - DRAFT

The Committee considered the report of the County Librarian (Item 2 in the Minute Book) on the draft Annual Library Plan for 2001. The County Librarian advised that the preparation of an annual library plan is a statutory requirement with which all library authorities must comply and that the draft version had already been lodged with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in advance of the 30th September deadline as the final version had not yet been approved by the full County Council. The draft document which was before the committee had been drawn up in accordance with guidelines issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which specified paragraph by paragraph what is required.

The Committee then discussed the draft document and in particular made detailed comments on the individual libraries operated by the Hampshire Library Service. It was felt that in each case it should be stated whether the County Council owns or leases the building in question and in the case of the latter how long the lease has to run. Other points which arose during the discussion were the importance of encouraging young people to use libraries more and the need for the County Council to challenge some of the standards for library performance which had been drawn up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

RESOLVED:

That the draft Annual Library Plan be resubmitted to the committee for approval prior to consideration by the full council in February, 2002 having been revised, as necessary, to reflect the Best Value Review of the Library Service.

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