COUNTY Hall has made a dramatic U-turn on criticised plans to introduce reservation fees on library books to "avoid penalising those who enjoy reading a lot". 

Essex County Council has re-evaluated its position on charging library-goers a £1.15 reservation cost after 26 per cent of customers failed to collect books they had reserved.

According to the authority more than 400,000 books are ordered by library users to be transported to their nearest library or warehouse each year.

Up to 100,000 of these books, however, are never actually collected by the library users ordering them.

In a bid to deter this issue, council bosses toyed with the idea of introducing a charge, but have since decided against it after kickback from Save Our Libraries Essex and councillors.

The U-turn was confirmed at a full council meeting on Tuesday by Mark Durham, councillor responsible for libraries.

Gazette: Colchester Library. Picture: LUCY TAYLOR

Abbey Division councillor Lee Scordis, who previously opposed plans by Essex County Council to close libraries, said: “I was incredibly concerned when I was alerted to these plans. 

"I have always believed the principle of a library is that it is a universal free service for everyone.”

“These plans would have disproportionally effected poorer families and areas with a small branch library, while also going against the council's own missions of levelling-up.”

Gazette: Delighted - Councillor Lee Scordis is pleased the fee will no longer be implemented Delighted - Councillor Lee Scordis is pleased the fee will no longer be implemented (Image: Newsquest)
Jean Quinn, a former teacher and Save Our Libraries Essex campaigner, said the council needs to ensuring reserved books reach their destinations sooner to avoid no-shows.

She said: "The fact that 26 per cent of reservations are not collected is usually because too often we have to wait weeks for the reserved book to arrive.

"By then the need for the book for an essay or school project has passed.”

A spokesman for Essex County Council said: “In line with other library services across the country, we considered introducing a £1.15 reservation fee to discourage those who are not interested in collecting the books they ordered.

"However, we have decided not to go ahead with this decision in order to avoid penalising those who enjoy reading a lot of books and make good use of the reservation system."