TWO Pembrokeshire libraries are to see their opening hours cut as part of a council budget saving target of £250,000.
At the March meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, members were asked to make changes to library service provision in parts of the county, as part of steps to reduce service costs, following recent a public consultation and the Library Needs Assessment.
The proposals, initially for changes to three county libraries, Pembroke, Pembroke dock and Milford Haven, are part of wider changes to generate a total saving of £250,000 per annum, based on a 20 per cent savings target for the service as part of the agreed 2025-’26 budget.
It was proposed to make changes at Pembroke library, for a saving of £6,800, Pembroke Dock library (£12,000), and Milford Haven library (£13,000).
Pembroke library will see its hours reduced by eight per week, adopting the timetable which had the highest community support, by closing on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1pm.
Pembroke Dock library is to lose seven hours, closing at 1pm on Thursdays and at 4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
A formal consultation exercise ran between January and February, with the reductions in hours proposed at Pembroke and Pembroke Dock, and, in the case of Milford, the proposal was either to relocate the library to a smaller/cheaper premises or establish a Community Managed Partnership at the current library.
The situation at Milford Haven is to remain unchanged in the short term after the Port of Milford Haven and Milford Haven Town Council came forward with a combined financial support package of £13,000 for the 2025/26 year, with works ongoing to find a longer term financially sustainable solutions for the library.
Presenting the report to Cabinet members, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett, who moved the recommendations, said Milford differed from the other two libraries due to the additional short-term funding received.
“Milford haven town Council and the Port of Milford Haven stepped forward to fill that gap, in effect it buys us some time to look at the options going forward; in Milford what we’ve done in effect is to buy a year’s grace.”
Members heard the near-£32,000 savings outlined were a small part of the hoped-for overall savings for the service.
Seconding approval, Leader Cllr Jon Harvey highlighted the importance of libraries “not just for lending books,” but for providing ‘warm spaces’ and locations for other community facilities.
The proposals were unanimously supported by Cabinet members.
