Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Chiswick Library to be rebuilt? | |
Posted by: | Peter Thompson | |
Date/Time: | 09/05/08 09:10:00 |
The process to find a contractor to manage our leisure services was carried out under European Union regulations. There is no scope within this for public involvement. As part of this process all the bidders had to outline how they would deliver specific aspects of the services and this included proposals for improving our buildings such as Chiswick Library. It is worth stressing here that these were just proposals and that once the contract has been signed there will, of course, have to be full public consultation on how we can develop our services and on top of this the usual planning process will have to be followed. We have retendered our leisure services because we wanted to: • improve the standard of grounds maintenance in the Boroughs Parks through setting a ‘higher level’ of service specification than the current levels of grounds maintenance. • bring back into maintenance parks and open spaces that had been excluded from regular maintenance and improve standards in parks that had had reduced maintenance due to budget restrictions through more regular maintenance. • address the £12.4M of backlog maintenance identified through the building condition surveys which we undertook in August 2007. This is the legacy of years of under funding by the previous administration. • to increase participation in leisure and cultural services. In real terms we will be spending significantly more on our libraries, pools, parks and community halls and I am looking forward to sharing the full details of plans within the next few weeks. We will not be consigning our local history collection to the scrap heap! Cllr Peter Thompson Turnham Green Ward Leader of the Council |