Council’s libraries and museums services ask for your views

Cheshire West and Chester Council delivers libraries and museums services across the whole of the borough and is asking for residents’ views on these services.

A consultation will launch on Monday 5 February for eight weeks, asking for feedback on a number of proposals on how they could operate in the future.

The Council’s Cabinet Member for a Fairer Future, Councillor Lisa Denson said:

“Our libraries and museums services are open to all and are well used by communities every day.

“Our ambition is to offer modern, accessible, and sustainable libraries and museums services whose development is informed by the views of residents across the borough.

“To achieve this, we have developed some principles to guide how libraries and museums services are delivered in the future. We are also considering making some changes to the opening hours of libraries and museums to ensure consistency across the borough, and to ensure that each local area has access to library services throughout the week.

“We want to understand the views of service users, residents and stakeholders about these proposals.  This feedback is important to us so that we make changes in the best way possible and continue to deliver responsive services that provide value for money.”

The Council wants to maintain consistent access to libraries and museums at times residents want to use them and are proposing some changes to opening hours to enable this.  The proposed changes have been designed using usage data and local knowledge to ensure that excellent services continue to be available to residents. 

There will be several ways people can take part and share their views:

Consultation documents and a survey are available online: 

West Cheshire Museums and Libraries Consultation 2024 | Cheshire West and Chester Council

A paper version of the consultation documents and survey will be available at all Cheshire West libraries and museums

The consultation is scheduled to start on Monday 5 February for eight weeks.

Full details of the consultation are here: 

Council website.

There will also be informal public engagement sessions where members of the public can come and talk to the services about their proposals and share their views at the following places:

• Thursday 15 February from 3pm to 7pm at Weaver Hall Museum and Northwich Library
• Tuesday 20 February from 9am to 1pm at Ellesmere Port Library
• Thursday 22 February from 2pm to 6pm at Grosvenor Museum Chester
• Friday 1 March from 9am to 1pm at Neston Library
• Thursday 7 March from 1pm to 5pm at Lion Salt Works Northwich
• Saturday 9 March from 9:30am to 1pm at Upton Library
• Monday 11 March from 2pm to 7pm at Winsford Library
• Thursday 14 March from 2pm to 5pm at Tarvin Library

The libraries and museums services will then use the feedback to help shape the future museums and libraries service offer.  

A summary of the consultation findings will be published on the Council website in spring 2024 alongside an update on the outcome of any decisions taken and the next steps.