Cheshire East Council, like all councils across the country, has been experiencing unprecedented financial pressures and is required to put forward proposals showing how it can balance its budget. The council approved its medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) for 2024 to 2028 at a meeting of Full Council in February 2024, and this put forward proposals showing how the council could balance its budget for the next 4 years.

The MTFS for 2024 to 2028 included proposal 73: “Libraries Strategy”. This proposal set out the intention to develop a Libraries Strategy to consider the medium and long term future of this service, in particular how it becomes more financially self-sustainable through income generation. This proposal set a further savings target of £615,000 for the Library Service.

Cheshire East Council is now conducting this consultation on a draft Libraries Strategy for 2024 to 2028 (PDF, 4.9MB), and on how this strategy will be delivered and how this savings target will be met. An accessible version of this draft Library Strategy is also available here (PDF, 817KB).

This strategy has been developed based on feedback from past Library Service Consultations, in liaison with key council services including Adults, Childrens, Communities, Customer Services, Public Health, and Leisure Services, and in conjunction with Cheshire East Ward Councillors and Town and Parish Councils.

The final Libraries Strategy will be amended to reflect consultation feedback, with Environment and Communities Committee having a final say on whether it is adopted later this year.

Note that proposals for Prestbury Library are not included within the scope of this consultation, as that library is funded by The Ann Whittaker Trust, which is an independent Charitable Trust first established in the 1600s, and which is a model which could not easily be replicated elsewhere.

To have your say, visit the Council website here