Labour rejects new calls for an end to Dolly's Imagination Library

Rotherham’s Imagination Library, launched four years ago by country music icon Dolly Parton, came under fire at a full council meeting from opposition councillors, who said its funding should be spent on repairing the borough’s broken roads.

But the ruling Labour group vowed to press on with the scheme, which involves sending a free book a month to every child born in Rotherham until their fifth birthday.

Council leader Roger Stone was told during the meeting that the Imagination Library was a luxury Rotherham could not afford as the council made cuts amounting to more than £30 million in its annual budget.

“I’m sure that if you ask the people what they would prefer to spend money on, repairing the roads or on the Imagination Library, I could guess what the answer would be,” said independent councillor Peter Thirlwall.

The concept was brought to the town by Cllr Stone, who learned about the scheme on a trip to Nashville in 2006.

It currently costs £330,000 a year and is funded by a Local Area Agreement award grant given to the council by the Government and cash from NHS Rotherham and the Chamber of Commerce.

Cllr Stone defended the scheme by insisting that free books for children would benefit the people of Rotherham in the long term.

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“The Imagination Library was introduced to give people a better start in life,” he added.

He said that there were 16,124 children registered to the project and added that the scheme could “significantly reduce” levels of low attainment, criminality and unemployment among young people.

This cost amounts to £2 a month per child—a total of £120 for the full five years.

The council’s financial commitment to the scheme—said to be running successfully across America—came to light from questions asked under the Freedom of Information Act before its launch and it has attracted criticism ever since.

The total cost of the launch was revealed to be more than £9,600 and revealed projected running costs to the council in year one to be £60,000, £150,000 in year two and £400,000 in year three.

But Cllr Stone defiantly insisted: “The Imagination Library is a great success and we won’t be packing in with it.”

Also among those criticising the scheme this week was Advertiser reader Pat  Collins, of Wharf Close, Swinton, who called for it to be among the casualties of the council cuts.

“What cut has been made to reduce the cost of council administration?” she said.

“Surely a tier of middle managers could be lost?

“How much is spent on ad hoc projects like the crazy Dolly Parton reading scheme and how much is spent on catering to minority groups while the majority suffer cuts?

“If cuts are to be made it has to be fairly across the board. It is time to think outside the box and put the people of Rotherham first.”