LIVERPOOL'S Central Library will stop opening during the evenings in a move aimed at saving around £1m from this year's council budget.

The authority has opened formal consultation with union representatives over plans to close the

library at 6pm on week nights. The Grade II listed building, on William Brown Street, currently opens until 8pm on week nights, and has the longest opening hours of any library in any major UK city.

However, under the new proposals, it would lose that unique status just three years before Liverpool celebrates its Capital of Culture year.

The library will also lose around a fifth of its new book-buying budget, which is to be cut by around £250,000, mirroring a move to reduce all local libraries' book-buying funds.

Around 20 staff posts will also go and flexi-time for the remaining workers will be abolished.

However, there will be no compulsory redundancies as staff have been asked if they would volunteer for early retirement or redundancy packages.

Plans to cut around £850,000 were initially outlined in the council's budget, which the Liberal Democrats blamed on a £20m shortfall in its settlement from central government this year.

Following this, it emerged the council was considering cutting opening hours, possibly in the mornings.

However, the council carried out a footfall survey, which Cllr Warren Bradley, cabinet member for leisure and tourism, said indicated a significant drop in visitor numbers after 5pm.

Last night, Andrew Coburn, secretary of the national charity the Library Campaign Group, led calls for the city council to re-consider.

He said: "This is an extremely disappointing and retrograde step by Liverpool City Council.

"The whole point of setting up libraries, particularly in urban centres like Liverpool, was to provide access to literature and education for all, regardless of means.

"That is still the case, there are people who can't necessarily afford to buy books, and others who don't have a place to sit down and study, who will seriously lose out if the hours are cut back."

He added: "The library is not just a city centre facility, it is one of the larger libraries in the North West and should be regarded as a regional resource.

"Cutting back the evening opening hours is clearly going to have a severe impact at a time when, nationally, the Government is actively encouraging more people to read books.

"I would sincerely urge the council to reconsider. Particularly with the year of culture coming up, it seems a terrible shame to continue the build-up by reducing access to one of the most important cultural assets that the city runs."

Unison representative Ralph Parkinson confirmed the union had begun formal consultation with the council over the plans.

He told the Daily Post: "We are concerned because the proposals affect the working conditions for our members.

"If the council presses ahead with abolishing flexi-time without giving 90 days' notice,, then they will be in breach of contract and we will be consulting our lawyers.

"Morale is quite low at the moment and so quite a few people are applying for the voluntary redundancy. It is quite a good package. The only problem will be that it means the remaining staff will have to work harder to cover shifts once they go."

He added: "As a council taxpayer, I am concerned that the opening hours will be cut, because it will significantly reduce the number of hours that people can use the library.

"There is something wrong when we are meant to be heading for Capital of Culture status, but our residents will not even take out books after normal working hours."

Last night, Cllr Bradley, who has delegated powers to make the cuts, stressed evening closure would save seven smaller libraries outside the city centre.

The library would only lose nine hours a week in total.

He told the Daily Post: "The whole plan has been designed to have minimal impact on the public.

"I could not live with the initial proposals put forward. I couldn't let the smaller libraries close, so we commissioned a footfall survey.

"We found visitor numbers dropped off rapidly after 5pm at Central and the decision was taken to reduce the evening opening hours. This is not a decision that we will take lightly, but there has to be some give and take."

Cllr Bradley added that the £31m refurbishment plans for the William Brown Street site were not under threat from the cuts.

A further £126,000 will be saved by merging staff from community libraries and one-stop shops.

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman has written to the library and the council calling for them to stop the planned shortening of

hours. She said: "I was shocked when I found out they were planning to do this and I have made representations to the council and library.

"Access to information is vital in this day and age, and libraries are a vital part in that.

"There is no reason for the council to make cuts in the library service.

"It has extra cash from government for the last eight years, so it is their decision to do this - they are not being forced."

deborahjames@dailypost.co.uk

Services need more investment - not less >>>

Services need more investment - not less

* LESLEY YORK, 47, a full time mother from West Derby, said: "A lot of the local libraries have been run down and don't have the books or facilities someone might need, which is why the Central Library is so important.

"They should be encouraging more people to visit not preventing them."

* CHLOE LUXFORD, 21, an illustration student from Allerton, said: "It's a big resource for the city. The archive section is great and it would be wrong to cut the hours.

"Most people cannot go during the day and so closing at 6pm will prevent a lot of people going. It seems such a shame that so much money is being spent on the aesthetics of the city, but they are prepared to cut such a good service."

* KELVIN BAGLEY, an English teacher who is originally from Caldy, said: "I live in Buckinghamshire now and there they are extending library opening times, not cutting them.

"Youngsters do not read enough and taking money away from the book budget is not going to help.

"They should be putting more into the service if anything, not less."

* JACQUELINE DEBOE, 52, a housewife from West Kirby, said: "This is a really important public service and it's vital children are encouraged to use it. This is going the wrong way about it."

* NICK HALL, 44, a lawyer from Widnes, said: "I've visited the library a lot in the past while in education and it is a wonderful resource.

"To make cuts in its hours and its funding when Liverpool is to be Capital of Culture seems a very strange move."

* KEVIN McADAM, a chartered account from Billinge, said: "I think it's a great shame. It's a place where people can study in peace. I spent a lot of time there when I was taking my chartered accountancy exams. For people who work, the late opening is invaluable."

* JUNE HOBSON, a civil servant from New Brighton, said: "I use the library regularly for researching my family history, particularly on the microfiche in the evenings.

"To cut the hours is a very bad idea, particularly when most libraries in the country are extending theirs.

"Most people work and do not have the opportunity to visit except out of office hours."

* DR PETER ROONEY, from West Derby, who teaches history at Birkenhead Sixth Form college, said: "Obviously I'm against this. I use the library very regularly, sometimes daily, for historical research, which is something I certainly cannot do anywhere else locally.

"I remember when it used to be open until 9pm, then they cut it back. Over the last 20 years, the stock has also reduced a great deal.

"It needs to be invested in, not subject to cuts. Ideally I would like to see the closing time return to 9pm to give people a proper chance to visit and get work done."

Extension for a piece of heritage which city leaders say would draw in 1m visitors >>>

Extension for a piece of heritage which city leaders say would draw in 1m visitors

THE Central Library was built in the 1850s and attracts almost six times the average number of visitors for libraries.

The William Brown Street building is Grade II* listed and also forms part of the World Heritage site.

It was the first lending library in the UK and a seven-floor extension was built in the 1970s to cope with its expansion.

The Victorian building is renowned for its stunning architecture, particularly the Picton circular reading room, with its drum-like structure, which was added in 1879.

Last year, the Government announced £31.5m in funding to transform it in time for Capital of Culture.

The library already attracts 600,000 people each year, but Liverpool City Council said it hoped that would increase to over a million following the redesign.

The plans include a new entrance, extra shelf space by boosting the size of the library to 18,000 square metres and double the amount of public computers.

Part of the building, which sits between The Walker Art Gallery and Liverpool Museum, will also undergo an extension increasing the area for archive exhibitions by a quarter.

As part of the development, a huge virtual archive is being set up to put millions of documents, such as Liverpool's charter, birth certificates, school registers and details of people who emigrated from the city, on the internet. It is hoped that it will be completed in time for the city's 800th birthday next year.

And as well as a new children's library and a visitor centre, rare books and documents will go on display with a copy of the 1207 charter granting Liverpool city status being one of the highlights.

The plans have been objected to by pressure group The Victorian Society, who believe that they are too radical.