Decision - Library Sustainability Plan

Brighton and Hove Cabinet Decided 17 Jul 2025 approved GET /api/coverage

Decision maker

Cabinet

Report author

Ceris Howard

Published

18 Jul 2025

Reference

7472

As published

the council's own words, unedited

This report seeks approval to commence a public consultation on the city's Library Sustainability Plan

That Cabinet: 1) Notes the sustainability plan for Libraries as set out in this report 2) Agrees to commence a public consultation on the proposals, specifically covering the following suggestions: 3) Consult on the proposed closure of Hollingbury Library 4) Consult on the proposed closure of Rottingdean Library 5) Consult on the proposed closure of Westdene Library 6) Consult on the proposed changes in opening hours at Hove Library 7) Consult on the proposed changes in opening hours at Jubilee Library

Parsed from the document

gpt-5.6-luna-2026-07-09 · 9613/1487 tokens · 11158ms · parsed 9 Sep 2026 15:38

Everything below was read out of a PDF by a model It is useful and it is not authoritative. The document it came from is linked in the rail, and where the two disagree the document is right.

Brighton & Hove City Council proposed closing Hollingbury, Rottingdean and Westdene Libraries and reducing opening hours at Hove and Jubilee Libraries from April 2026. Cabinet was asked to begin a 12-week public consultation before a final decision on the closures and opening-hour changes.

Recommendation

To note the Libraries sustainability plan and agree to commence a public consultation on the proposed closures of Hollingbury, Rottingdean and Westdene Libraries and the proposed reductions in opening hours at Hove and Jubilee Libraries.

Financial impact

The proposals identify £210,000 in annualised savings: £65,000 from reducing Jubilee Library opening hours, £50,000 from reducing out-of-hours staff time, £35,000 from reducing Hove Library opening hours, £25,000 from closing Rottingdean Library, £20,000 from closing Westdene Library and £15,000 from closing Hollingbury Library. The libraries service has a £4.1 million net council general fund budget for 2025/26.

Ward affected

city-wide

Decision maker

Cabinet

Date in document

17 Jul 2025

Stakeholders named

parsed

Library users and non-usersResidents in affected communitiesLibrary staffStudents and young peopleElderly and disabled residents and carersCommunity groups and local partnersWard councillors

Next steps

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Commence a 12-week public consultation from 18 July to 10 October 2025, if approved.
Brief councillors on the consultation responses and proposals.
Hold a special meeting of the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on a date to be confirmed in November 2025.
Return to Cabinet for a final decision on 11 December 2025.
Conduct staff consultation from January to March 2026.
Implement any approved closures and opening-hour reductions from April 2026.

Precedents

not built

"Decided elsewhere" is not built Finding the same decision in other councils needs semantic matching over decision text, which is part of the search rewrite. Until then, the council's own decisions list is the way through.