ABERDEESHIRE Council say there will be no public consultation before councillors determine proposals to relocate Stonehaven’s library to the Council’s Viewmount office.
It appears the feedback from January’s engagement event with an invited cohort of attendees is deemed sufficient.
A Live Life Aberdeenshire spokesperson said: “Live Life Aberdeenshire took forward community engagement with active library users in January on proposals linked to a relocation of library services in Stonehaven.
”At present, feedback from these sessions is under review and the service is looking to respond to the issues raised from these sessions.
”A formal report will be submitted to Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee for comment, with feedback from this process then presented to Communities Committee for a formal decision to be made. Dates for when reports will be submitted have not been confirmed at this stage.”
‘Stonehaven residents deserve better than this’
Brian Menzies, chair of Stonehaven and District Community Council said they were concerned about the consultation process that has been followed.
He said: ”We hope that Aberdeenshire Council will engage with the community shortly to set out transparently, and in detail, the options being considered, the feedback received and meaningful next steps for further engagement.”
Meanwhile Save Stonehaven Library campaigners who want the library to stay in its current building have gathered almost 3,000 signatures on a petition to that effect. They too say they are unhappy with the lack of public consultation.
Kirby Porter said: ”What the Live Life Abeerdeenshire spokesperson is now saying is completely misleading.
”As someone who attended two of the engagment sessions, I can confirm that, rather than bringing forward ‘proposals linked to a relocation of library services in Stonehaven’ comments on this were actively discouraged.
”The fact that, five months on from the sessions, nothing has yet been submitted to the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee and no timescale when any submission will be made is further evidence that Live Life Aberdeenshire officers’ original proposal was brought forward with no idea how much it would cost and what work would need to be done to achieve it.”
He added: ”Stonehaven residents deserve better than this.”