New staffed opening hours from November announced for South Gloucestershire’s libraries and one stop shops

Updated staffed opening hours for South Gloucestershire Libraries and One Stop Shops will come into effect from next month.

Libraries in South Gloucestershire will remain open on the same days as they are now, but from 4 November 2024, the number of staffed hours will be reduced. The staffed opening hours for each library have been selected following a twelve-week public consultation, to ensure libraries remain as accessible as possible to the community, while helping to meet the ongoing budgetary constraints faced by the council.

Seven of the 12 libraries in South Gloucestershire will receive additional funding from local Town and Parish Councils, subject to contract, meaning that they will be able to continue to run a children’s activity, remain staffed for an extra two hours per week or both. 

In alignment with the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, the council has prioritised a strategy that supports a “comprehensive and efficient library service”. No South Gloucestershire libraries have been closed down.

The consultation process saw active engagement from residents, library users, staff and other stakeholders. Their feedback helped determine when to plan for staffed hours in each library, based on when the most users visit, balancing community needs with the council’s need to reduce spending while minimising the impact on services wherever possible.

South Gloucestershire Council Cabinet Member for Communities and Local Place, Cllr Sean Rhodes, said: “We are committed to delivering a library service that meets the needs of our residents. The feedback we received during the consultation was invaluable, helping us to shape a service that is comprehensive and sustainable. While we are mindful of the financial challenges, we want to provide a library service which is accessible and responsive to the needs of our diverse community.

“We are also hugely grateful for the way in which a number of our Town and Parish Councils have engaged with us to work collaboratively to ensure we can offer as many staffed hours as possible.

“Bradley Stoke, Emersons Green, Filton, Kingswood and Thornbury Town Councils, as well as Oldland, Siston, Bitton, Staple Hill and Mangotsfield Parish Councils, have all agreed to contribute to a library service for our communities. We continue to work with others in the hope that we can agree more support for more libraries in the future.

“The engagement with residents and with Town and Parish Councils are part of our Community Conversations approach. We are working with stakeholders to really listen to their feedback and have it influence the decisions we make.

“We understand the importance of having staffed hours and we have tried to minimise the impact of the reduction on our communities. Additionally, we remain committed to protecting our book fund, ensuring that our collection continues to meet the needs and interests of our residents.

“South Gloucestershire Council is proud to support our library services as a key part of our community strategy. In collaboration with local organisations, we are working to expand the use of our libraries for a wide range of activities. Libraries are more than just books; they are vital community hubs.”

The council will continue to offer the Open Access service, which has been in place since 2017. This service allows residents to use library facilities outside of staffed hours, offering additional flexibility and convenience.

In addition to the revised library hours, there will also be small adjustments to the operating hours of the council’s One Stop Shops, in Kingswood, Patchway and Yate. From 4 November 2024, they will open 15 minutes later and close 30 minutes earlier on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesday. They will therefore be open from 9:00am – 4:30pm, Monday to Fridays.

The changes are also part of the council’s ongoing efforts to reduce spending where possible, and the slightly shorter hours represent periods when very few customers currently use the One Stop Shops.

Cllr Rhodes added: “We want to continue to provide the vital services that local people rely upon. This is becoming harder each year, with costs continuing to grow much faster than income that the council receives.

“We believe these changes are reasonable in balancing our financial situation and maintaining services. The savings we are making now were earmarked in previous years’ budgets, but the reality is that we know there will be more difficult decisions ahead.

“We are grateful to local people for their feedback during the consultation on these issues, which have helped us to find the best possible way to maintain services within the funding we have available.”

New library staffed hours will be as follows from 4 November:

The contributions from Town and Parish Councils will fund the following: