This petition is submitted by Enfield Over 50s Forum on behalf
of older people, but we also speak for the young, those with
disabilities, mums, dads and carers and all those for whom
libraries are an essential community lifeline. We consider that the
proposal to close eight local libraries is discriminatory in
respect of these protected groups because it will have a
disproportionately negative effect on them.
We reject the proposition in Enfield Council’s internal
Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) that ‘savings estimated
at £5.3 million’ in future upkeep, and ‘capital
receipts of between £2.43 million and £3.25
million’ for the buildings, remotely compensate for the loss
of a service which
• Plays a vital role in pre-school socialisation in laying
foundations for school and reading readiness and providing
immunisation
• Provides facilities for older children who cannot easily
study at home where there may be neither space nor computer
access
• Provides safe places for readers, those seeking information
or help with digital access, bureaucracy and form filling and,
sadly, for keeping warm in Winter and (increasingly) cool in
Summer
• Provides, literally, a lifeline to those vulnerable older
people threatened with both hypothermia and hyperthermia as well as
malnutrition as recent admissions to North Middlesex hospital
revealed
• Provides library access for significant numbers of
vulnerable residents about whom Enfield’s EqIA
concludes
o ‘People with learning disabilities and people who are
neuro-diverse or have dementia may be disproportionately impacted
by the proposed closure of the 8 libraries if they rely on these
libraries as a safe, familiar place in which they feel
comfortable’.
o ‘Carers may also be disproportionately impacted if they
rely on their time at this library as a form of
respite’.
o ‘If the 8 libraries were to close this may
disproportionately impact disabled people and their carers who use
this library for respite and social interaction, as they will lose
this social experience and could feel isolated’,
o ‘Some disabled people may find it difficult to travel to
alternative libraries if they are required to walk, travel longer
distances or take a journey that requires them to change bus or
train to get to a library’
o ‘that the closure of some physical libraries may have a
negative impact on some disabled library users, who may need
assistance accessing the digital library service or are digitally
excluded’.
In reality, the proposals mean that for significant numbers of less
mobile, vulnerable and excluded residents there will be no library
access. Books aside, libraries are effectively social hubs and
vital links in chains of communication and community coherence. The
map of Enfield reveals that areas of deprivation in the borough
will be left without a library or easy access to one.
We find the 11 times repeated EqIA conclusion that ‘the
proposal to close the 8 libraries will have a negative impact on
all users of these libraries, regardless of their (variously) age,
disability, gender identity, marital status, pregnant or recently
had a baby, ethnicity, religions or beliefs, sex, sexual
orientation’, care experience, socio-economic status’,
reduces the assessment of impact on protected groups to a facile,
box ticking exercise that fails to acknowledge the reality for
seriously impacted groups.
Hence Enfield Over 50s Forum emphatically rejects the EqIA
conclusion that this ‘negative impact is justified by the
need to improve and enhance the library service at the retained 8
libraries, and the need to deliver the library service in a more
efficient manner’.
We need forward- looking solutions capable of transforming our
assets not simply selling them off. The Forum calls for a
withdrawal of the present proposals and a radical and creative
re-consideration dedicated to the future of our children and
grandchildren and to respect and consideration for older
residents.
This Petition runs from 12/09/2024 to 14/11/2024.
82 people have signed this Petition.