Reform UK quietly withdraws all its libraries from Library of Sanctuary scheme

This week's newsletter corrects the record

Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.

A recent edition of this newsletter reported on the criticism of Preston City Council and its decision for The Harris to be considered for the Museum of Sanctuary accreditation.

That criticism came from county councillor Luke Parker, a Reform councillor at Lancashire County Council, who used an AI image of refugees queuing outside the library to make his point.

In that reporting, we said that Lancashire’s libraries were all signed up to the Library of Sanctuary scheme, which you as a reader may have seen as a bit odd for the Reform-led administration to be in favour of given the criticism being levied at the Harris.

But it turns out that was wrong, because the accreditation was quietly dropped at the end of 2025. We’d have known that, if any of the various people we asked at County Hall about it had engaged and answered queries rather than firing pot shots.

It certainly came as a surprise to councillors - who were not informed of the decision.

So today we report on how that decision came about, who made it, why they made it and who is concerned about it.

Lancashire briefing

🌹 A Labour councillor at Lancashire County Council has had the whip removed while an investigation takes place. Chris Snow is the county councillor representing Chorley Central. The Lancashire Lead understands that the removal of the whip is in relation to a social media post made on 1 January. Cllr Mark Clifford, Labour leader at County Hall, told us: “In the Labour Party we take standards in public life very seriously and abide by the seven Nolan principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. CC Chris Snow shared a highly inappropriate post on social media and whilst he took it down shortly after posting it and unreservedly apologised. The Labour Party took immediate action and suspended the whip from him pending an investigation. We hold our Councillors to the highest standards and will always take appropriate action where needed.”

💷 Conservatives’ hopes to freeze council tax again in Ribble Valley have been criticised by opponents, claiming they could put services and key projects at risk. New budget recommendations, including extra cash for Clitheroe market and Ribblesdale Pool, have been supported by most councillors. But there are disagreements over council tax and final decisions will be needed at the borough’s March budget meeting. The council’s latest Policy & Finance Committee considered various budget ideas and made recommendations. In one budget forecast, council officers had assumed a 2.99 per cent increase on the borough’s council tax, taking a band D charge of £170 to £175. The forecast also assumed similar increases over a few years. However, Conservative Cllr Kevin Horkin called for a freeze. He said: “I cannot support a council tax increase. We should be supporting residents at this time and leaving a good legacy behind us.”

🛏️ A new ‘extra care’ complex in Leyland is expected to be full by the summer, the council that built it has said. Around a third of the apartments at the Jubilee Gardens development are now occupied, a meeting of South Ribble Borough Council’s cabinet was told. The £20.5m scheme – on West Paddock, alongside the local authority’s headquarters – is made up of 75 flats whose occupants each have their own personal living space and front door, but with on-site support on hand and any tailored packages of care they may need. Open to the over-55s – but with over-60s given priority – the facility welcomed its first residents back in October. It is now on course to be fully occupied within the next six months as part of a phased plan to fill the dwellings, which are available for affordable rent and come with a mix of one and two bedrooms. The site features communal spaces and services including a hair salon and community café.

🍺 The demolition of a historic Preston city centre pub will definitely go ahead after a senior councillor said he could not “justify” the cost that would be involved in keeping it standing. A final decision has now been reached about the fate of The Tithebarn, which has hung in the balance since the derelict building was effectively condemned last summer. However, the possibility of constructing a new pub on the plot, opposite the bus station, has now been floated by Preston City Council. The prospects for the existing 230-year-old structure fluctuated during the second half of last year – with hopes rising and falling that at least part of it could be saved. That uncertainty looked to have been put to bed when planning permission to completely flatten the former hostelry – which served its last punters exactly a decade ago this month – was granted in November.

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Reform UK quietly withdraws all its libraries from Library of Sanctuary scheme

Lancashire County Council staff at the Libraries of Sanctuary awarding event at Nelson Library in 2023

By Luke Beardsworth

Reform UK quietly withdrew all of Lancashire County Council’s libraries from the Library of Sanctuary scheme, The Lancashire Lead has learned.

There are 63 libraries managed by Lancashire County Council, and one - The Harris - managed by Preston City Council, in the authority’s area and all were signed up to the Library of Sanctuary scheme by the previous Conservative administration at the end of 2022.

When that was announced in February 2023, Lancashire County Council celebrated the award as recognition ‘for the vital role they play in supporting people who are seeking sanctuary’.

A Library of Sanctuary accreditation lasts for three years, at which point an authority can choose to renew or allow it to lapse.

And the cabinet member responsible for Lancashire’s libraries said that he took the decision to end the participation citing it not being ‘an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money.”

This is despite the accreditation being free, although it is feasible he is referring to services related to the award there is an intention to remove.

Cllr Matthew Salter, cabinet member for Education and Skills, Lancashire County Council, told us: “The Libraries of Sanctuary accreditation reached the end of its agreed term in 2025 and I took the decision to end our participation at that point.

“The scheme is voluntary, and I do not believe it represents an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money. Our libraries serve all the residents of Lancashire.”

The Lancashire Lead had asked, given how Reform UK have styled themselves as the ‘straight-talking party of transparency’, how the decision was communicated to other elected members and library staff.

The authority said that library staff were told of the decision in a meeting via managers.

But councillors have since told The Lancashire Lead that the first they heard about the decision was when Cllr Salter confirmed it during Thursday’s (12 February) Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee.