Hounslow Libraries Return to Council's Control

Carillion's contract ends at the end of July

Hounslow is to take on control of Hounslow's libraryies from 1st August after the contract with Carillion has been ended by mutual agreement.

Councillor Samia Chaudhary, Hounslow council cabinet member for green policy and leisure, said: “We believe that by bringing this back in-house, we can further improve what is a very valuable service for our residents and integrate this across our wider leisure and cultural services.

“Our intention is that the service to the public will not change, and there are no plans to close any of the libraries during the transfer.”

A spokesperson for Carillion said: “The contract for Carillion to provide library services in Hounslow has been ended by mutual agreement and will transfer back to the council on 1 August.

“Carillion continues to run the council’s parks and open spaces.”

Carillion purchased the contract from Laing in 2013. The original contract with John Lain was expected to run until 2023. A week ago Carillion announced it had to write off £845m and its chief executive Richard Howson stepped down with immediate effect.

Councillor Samia Chaudhary told Public Libraries News “The council is ending the contract for library services by mutual agreement with Carillion. Responsibility for the library service will transfer back to the Council on Tuesday 1 August. We believe that by bringing this back in-house, we can further improve what is a very valuable service for our residents and integrate this across our wider leisure and cultural services. Over the next three weeks, the Leisure team will work closely with HR, ICT, FM and Finance to transfer the service in-house. It will be challenging to complete the process quickly, primarily relating to the IT infrastructure, but our ICT team is confident that the necessary systems will be in place by 1 August.Our intention is that the service to the public will not change, and there are no plans to close any of the libraries during the transfer.”