Involve: Batley & Dewsbury Library Consultation

Batley & Dewsbury Library Consultation

What we're doing

Following the Council’s cabinet meeting on 26 September 2023, we are consulting on the proposals made in the asset review report to modernise and relocate Dewsbury Library Service to the Walsh Building and Batley Library Service to Batley Town Hall. The purpose of this consultation is to understand public priorities with regards to the relocation proposals and to allow the voice of the community to shape what a modernised library service might look like; including what is most important to them.

When we're doing it?

Between 27-Nov-2023 and 15-Jan-2024

We will be

Asking for information

Themes

Customer experiences
Health, wellbeing and lifestyle
Planning and regeneration
Events, leisure and culture

Where's it happening?

In one or more wards:

Batley East
Batley West
Dewsbury East
Dewsbury West
Dewsbury South

More information on what we're doing

If you would like to get involved with this consultation you can find a link here to the web address provided. If you are unable to complete it online, please attend Batley or Dewsbury Library where a paper copy will be available or a member of staff can support you to complete online. The consultation will close at midnight on Monday 15th January 2024.

Can anyone get involved?

Only selected groups

What happened?

A seven-week inclusive, accessible non-statutory consultation took place between 27th November 2023 – 15th January 2024 covering both Dewsbury and Batley.

A framework for the consultation methodology was created to ensure that the consultation was as inclusive and accessible as possible, we used a blended approach consisting of an online survey, paper survey and focus groups.

Further meetings have and continue to be held with stakeholders by the Strategic Director in order to ensure the most appropriate choice is made for each location. This has led to a decision to move Dewsbury Library but that further engagement work is required before a decision can be made in Batley.

There were 12 focus groups at with a total of 132 attendees involved in this informal consultation. There was a total of 533 surveys were completed with 416 being completed by residents online and 117 paper surveys uploaded online by library staff and volunteers.

Please note: Data collection involved merging responses from the paper surveys with the online survey. However, the paper survey format bypassed mandatory questions present in the online version. This can lead to slight inconsistencies in the total number of respondents for those specific mandatory questions where individuals who completed the paper survey may not have provided an answer.

The results are presented in the attached report.

What difference did the work make?

The consultation and subsequent report enabled a decision to be made in September 2024 on the Dewsbury location.

Methods of involvement

Method	How	How many people	Start	End
Face to face	focus groups	Unknown	27-11-2023	15-01-2024
Online	web survey	Unknown	27-11-2023	15-01-2024
Paper copy	copy of web survey	Unknown	27-11-2023	15-01-2024

Contact details

Name

Steph Bartle

Telephone

01484221000

Steph.Bartle@kirklees.gov.uk

Documents and links

Link to Consultation

Part of an organisation that's signed up to the Framework?

Project summary