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Tuesday 8 July 2014

Lincolnshire Libraries Judicial Review

I see that a hearing into the judicial review of Lincolnshire's library service happens today.  At the same time, there is a demand that the DCMS order a Charteris type enquiry in the County.  I have seen it reported that this is the first time that an authority has been challenged in Court on the s7 "comprehensive and efficient" duty, although in fact this is not the case.  Brent was challenged on that ground and the challenge was rejected.  The litigants in our case also asked the SoS to intervene, again unsuccessfully.

The Lincolnshire case is quite different, particularly in terms of the transport difficulties of a big rural county compared to a North London Borough.  It is also different in the amount of weight that Lincolnshire attach to the word efficient, which they seem to think means "bare minimum".  Lastly, Lincolnshire are heavily reliant on using community managed libraries.  I shall be interested in seeing what evidence that these work, and what happens to Lincolnshire's s7 duty if they don't.

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