00:00Sutton Coalfield has done what Birmingham couldn't, paid to keep its libraries alive.
00:07A £505,000 annual bailout from the town council means Boldmere and Warmly stay open and Mere Green gets an extra day.
00:15The city keeps the staff and the legal duty, the town pays the bill.
00:19Across Birmingham, weekly library hours are being cut from around 1,000 to the mid 700s.
00:25For Sutton, this deal softens the blow. For most of the city, the cut still bite.
00:30The arrangement is being sold as a partnership, but it's really a patch job.
00:35The Labour-run city council is broke after equal pay liabilities, overspending and a disastrous IT rollout.
00:42The Conservative town council has cash and used it. Both sides call it historic.
00:48What it really is, is uneven. If this becomes the model, areas with well-off parish councils keep their branches.
00:54And everywhere else risks losing them. That's not strategy, that's survival by postcode.
01:00A postcode lottery hiding behind the word partnership.
01:04There are questions the paperwork doesn't answer. How long does the deal last?
01:09Does half a million cover inflation, repairs, new stock or energy bills?
01:14If the town takes over buildings in the future, who pays when the roof leaks?
01:19The Connected Communities plan aims to merge libraries into ten hubs across the city.
01:24It sounds tidy on paper, but for residents who rely on these spaces to print job forms, find warmth or keep children reading, fewer doors open means less of a lifeline.
01:36Sutton brought itself breathing space. The rest of Birmingham is still holding its breath.
01:42The interest of the position area is bestается.
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