£15,000 spent on minor works to a small library!

Was this really for 'health and safety' or (more likely) just contractors taking advantage of the usual incompetence of Devon County Council?

Sidmouth library is about 30 years old. By UK library standards, it is a modern building and well equipped. Architecturally it might be thought not unattractive but functionally it is mediocre, like so many buildings of the period. For example, it has too much high level fenestration and can suffer from both solar glare and overheating. Some of the internal volume is unusable - typical of 'architecturally expressive' buildings!

Sidmouth library showing the main hexagonal area. Single storey reference and staff blocks are attached. Also shown is the car park sign. Recently replaced with identical wording to that used 20 years ago, it was a waste of several hundred pounds because in around 1995 the law on wheel clamping changed, making the threat as stated illegal. The car park continues to be used on a 'free for all' basis. 

Another poor feature is that the children's library is located up a long flight of stairs. So in this litigious age, who would be responsible if a child fell all the way down - maybe the library managers who could have spent £15,000 of taxpayers' money rearranging the layout?

scan photos here

In late February 2003, and seemingly as a 'last minute rush job' at the end of the financial year, it was suddenly announced that Sidmouth library would be closed for two weeks to allow 'essential health and safety work' to be undertaken. All well and good if this was a genuine reason - but what work really needed to be done, and at what cost?

There had previously been no mention or public knowledge of any 'health and safety' issues in the library, save that one lightweight ceiling tile in the reference library had fallen out of place. The DCC press release may be viewed at  sidlibpressrelease.htm or the full version on the internet at  http://www.devon.gov.uk/media/archive/sidlibimprove.html. The first local announcement was in the Sidmouth Herald on 21 February 2003.

Lighting upgrade

NEW LIGHTING, which will improve the ambiance of Sidmouth library, is to be installed at a cost of nearly £15,000.

The project involves upgrading lighting fixtures and replacing ceiling tiles in the reference library. To carry out the work, costing £14,500, the library will be temporarily closed for two weeks from Monday, March 10, reopening on Monday, March 24 at 9.30am.

Extra library books can be borrowed for this period and items will be stamped due back for when the library re-opens. The scheme will ensure new health and safety requirements are met.

The Sidmouth Herald subsequently printed the following letter on 14 March 2003. A competent County Council might have wished to respond - for example by saying exactly what work had been done, why exactly it had been deemed necessary (and by whom), and how much each contract and subcontract had cost. Not a word has been heard from Devon County Council. I am challenging them to make public all the internal correspondence and emails that must have been exchanged between various departments within DCC in the build-up to the announcement of closure. The latest development (Febuary 2004) is that the entire library is likely to be demolished to make way for a redeveloped health centre - just what taxpayers would expect a short while after £15,000 was spent on minor alterations including a new carpet! This news makes it even more relevant that the early emails and internal memos be released - they would probably show that the library managers knew of redevelopment plans before they authorised the £15,000 expenditure.

Shed light on library work

MADAM - Excuse me, but as a mere taxpayer I have two queries over the reported £15,000 cost of work in Sidmouth Library.

I wish to know how many diamonds are to be used in the new chandeliers in the reference library. I would also like to know the thickness of gold leaf specified for the new ceiling tiles. I spent some of my professional life linked to the building industry and on a good day I can smell a rat at 50 paces. What is going on?

Even if three workmen were employed for two weeks (perhaps long enough to change a few light bulbs?) the wages bill would be only around £3000 (£13 per hour, 40 hours a week all times six). Perhaps during their extended tea breaks they will find time to move the computers around so users can have some privacy?

I recently completed the construction of a large double garage. The specification for this included roof and wall insulation, dehumidification, fifteen twin strip lights, central heating and two ring main electrical circuits. It can be used as an operating theatre or to house up to 25 asylum seekers (or folkies...).The total material cost including expensive foundations was £8,000 (the correct total is actually £6,800).

Short of a major revamp (which it does not need) any minor alterations to Sidmouth library should not cost more than £3,000 to £5,000, including labour.

In previous years (and in the public interest) I have requested information from both East Devon District Council and Devon County Council concerning gardening, traffic lights, library computers and other matters. If on this occasion my requests for enlightenment go unanswered I shall in all probability blow a fuse.

Enough is enough. We pay for works to public buildings and we have a right to be told what is going on, and why. What are these 'health and safety' issues? Are councillors probing these matters in our interests or idling away the hours until the next committee meeting when they will nod agreement to anything they have been told not to object to?

DR STEPHEN J WOZNIAK

From the Sidmouth Herald 11 April 2003: a letter from an acknowledged expert who wears purple hats. The letter is such a wonderful example of dottiness, and so typical of Sidmouth, that it is reproduced below twice, the second time with commentary for those who need a full explanation.

Library is moving with the times

MADAM

In response to the recent letter of Dr S J Wozniak concerning expenditure at the library here are a few facts to put the record straight.

The library has been waiting 30 years for a staffroom and improved lighting.

An office and overall painting was long overdue. The expenditure was not exorbitant considering the work involved cutting corners cannot go on forever and we must move with the times and in the long term everyone will ultimately benefit.

I suspect you are not a regular library user and therefore have no knowledge of the limited conditions encountered daily by the staff and you have obviously not done enough homework before launching most forcibly into print your criticism.

It is not too late to thank those concerned for making the funds available to give the necessary facelift to our library and in so doing further the excellent service we receive from our dedicated libarians (sic) for which I for one am most grateful.

AUDREY HENDERSON
Flat2
Farrant Court
Balfours
Sidmouth
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MADAM

In response to the recent letter of Dr S J Wozniak concerning expenditure at the library here are a few facts to put the record straight. (My dear woman, you would not recognise a fact if it bit you. Are you an expert on buildings? Have you professional experience of science, analysis and economics?)

The library has been waiting 30 years for a staffroom and improved lighting. (Rubbish - it was only built 30 years ago and was constructed to the standards of the time. Only more recently has it become 'outdated' with new regulations in force for lighting in areas where computers are used. There was little if anything wrong with the lighting in the reference library. In any case, new lights should have not cost more than a few hundred pounds per room, plus labour. Providing a staffroom was primarily a matter of moving a few things around and installing a sink. No substantial buildings work was involved.)

An office and overall painting was long overdue. The expenditure was not exorbitant considering the work involved (where is your detailed analysis? I challenge you to produce it just as I have challenged the amateurs at DCC),

cutting corners cannot go on forever and we must move with the times and in the long term everyone will ultimately benefit. (Sounds like the sort of vague rubbish talked by most politicians. Have you ever thought of standing for election?)

I suspect you are not a regular library user and therefore have no knowledge of the limited conditions encountered daily by the staff (I have used the library for years and take quite an interest in the staff)

and you have obviously not done enough homework before launching most forcibly into print your criticism. (I couldn't have put it better myself.)

It is not too late to thank those concerned for making the funds available to give the necessary facelift to our library (actually the funds come from TAXPAYERS who get  poor value from DCC)

and in so doing further the excellent service we receive from our dedicated libarians (sic) for which I for one am most grateful. About the only thing Audrey got right was this last remark.

Anyone want to try and do better? This is a challenge to the whole of Sidmouth.

Can you trump this story from the Daily Telegraph, 5 April 2003?

Council job is £3,750 down the drain.

A COUNCIL has been accused of pouring money down the drain by spending £3,750 on the installation of a sink outside its leaders office. An inquiry has been ordered by the Labour-run Sheffield city council into who authorised the spending of public money on the stainless steel basin and taps in the city's Victorian town hall.

What is now being described by some councillors as a "Watergate scandal" was raised by Paul Scriven, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, who told a council meeting that the sink had replaced a photocopying machine in a room opposite the office of Jan Wilson, the council leader.

"This building has been standing since 1897 and nobody has needed a sink before", said Mr. Scriven. "Just a few yards away is a ladies' toilet with three sinks. The amount spent on it would buy 10 computers for schools, a thousand library books and repair a number of the city's pot-holed roads." Mrs. Wilson believes the staff had requested the sink and promised that "heads will roll". She said: "I know very little about it."

A council spokesman said the work was carried out by its staff. "Cups were being washed in the ladies' toilets and the work has been needed for some time." he said.

Perhaps this was another case of "essential health and safety work"?!