Dolly Parton reading scheme set to be expanded after council vote

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of allowing more youngsters to have access to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL).

The initiative, launched by the country music legend in 1995, sends under fives a free book each month and aims to support babies and children to develop a love of reading.

Parton launched the scheme in the UK in 2007, having pioneered it in the US.

She was motivated by her father’s inability to read.

It was first introduced in Wakefield in 2017 but is currently only available to children in Knottingley, Pontefract, Castleford Central, Ferry Fryston and Airedale.

Jakob Williamson, independent councillor for Hemsworth, proposed a motion calling on the authority to roll the scheme out to six further council wards and some neighbourhoods.

Coun Williamson said the plan was expected to cost the council around £425,000 over the next five years.

He told a full council meeting: “In the grand scheme of things, it is a minuscule amount.

“Expanding this scheme is quite personal to me.

“I’m not afraid to say that I have grown up in poverty and experienced hardship.

“There wasn’t much money growing up, but the one thing I had was a mum and a grandma who gave me books, whether that was from the library, secondhand books, or the occasional new one.

“Having that early access to books and being able to read enabled me to get good grades at GCSE, go on to study at university and end up with a law degree and a half-decent job.

“I got into politics to help people who were in a similar position to me.

“I want to rise up with my community and not pull the ladder up behind me.”

Coun Williamson said data showed learning development rates had improved within other areas where councils had invested in the scheme.

The Wakefield district falls behind regional and national averages when it comes to skills and educational attainment.

Less than 29 per cent of people in the district receive education above A Level, compared to 41.2 per cent regionally and 46.7 per cent nationally.

Coun Williams continued: “I think people living in poverty today are facing tougher challenges than I might have done when I was growing up.

“We’ve had over a decade of austerity, we have had cuts to welfare, we have had pay suppression.

“We’ve had a ridiculous rise in food banks which a lot of families are reliant on, a cost of living crisis, inflation, an energy price crisis.

“It’s pushing a lot of families past the edge.

“Families don’t have the available money to give their children free books all the time in deprived communities.”

Coun Williams added that he hoped the scheme could eventually be expanded even further to include all under fives across the district

Stan Bates, independent councillor South Elmsall and South Kirby, said he was “proud and happy” to second the motion.

He said: “It’s an investment in our children and their future.”

Duncan Smith, councillor for Ossett, said the Labour group supported the motion.

He said: “The DPIL is an important programme, both to us as members and the district as a whole.

“But I do want to highlight that it does come at a financial risk in terms of dipping into council general reserves.”

Margaret Isherwood, the council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “I love the Dolly Parton Library. It does a wonderful job and I fully support this.

“If we can expand it, it is going to be absolutely wonderful.”

All councillors voted in favour of asking the council’s cabinet to agree to expand the DPIL to the following areas:

Council wards: Featherstone, Hemsworth, Normanton, South Elmsall and South Kirkby, Wakefield East, Wakefield North, Wakefield West.

Neighbouthoods: Upton, Wrangbrook, Agbrigg, Belle Vue, Kettlethorpe, Chapelthorpe, Crigglestone, Minsthorpe, Ryhill, Havercroft.