News
Save our libraries!
Friday, 02 January 2009
Councillor Peter John
THE South London Press has launched its latest campaign to save libraries threatened with closure.
Liberal Democrat and Conservative-controlled Southwark council is considering plans to close four libraries in a desperate bid to save cash.
East Street Library in the Old Kent Road, Walworth, Kingswood in Seeley Drive, Sydenham, Nunhead in Gordon Road and Brandon in Cooks Road, Walworth, are all earmarked for the axe.
Under the council’s budget plan, these precious community resources could be lost forever at the whim of town hall beancounters.
Opponents have said such closures would be scandalous and have demanded an alternative plan be found that will keep these libraries open for the benefit of future generations.
And this newspaper backs their calls with the launch of the South London Press “Save Our Libraries” Campaign.
South London Press editor Hannah Walker urged readers to join the fight to save the threatened libraries.
She said: “Our local libraries are vital community resources, which help bind our neighbourhoods together.
“As a South London newspaper we have a big interest in doing just that, by helping to preserve these facilities.”
Leader of Southwark’s Labour opposition, Councillor Peter John, backed the campaign.
He said: “I’m 100 per cent behind a campaign to save the libraries.
“When people hear about these things, they do get very concerned and come out to support it.
“With the increasing problem of overcrowding in Southwark social housing, libraries are more important than ever as a place for young people to study in peace."
The leader of Southwark Pensioners’ Action Group (SPAG) Tony Farsky said his organisation would fight tooth and nail for the facilities, which provide a community hub for many older people.
He said: “Library services in Southwark are already poor.
“We haven’t even got a really good central library. It’s going to be cut back further. We will fight it.”
Radical gardener Richard Reynolds, author of On Guerilla Gardening, said the closures would be a real blow to the community.
He said: “Southwark council should be doing the exact opposite – they should be investing in the libraries, enriching the talents and opportunities of the community.
“Sewing the seed for future generations. Libraries are where great ideas begin.”
Southwark council leader Nick Stanton said no final decision had been made on the future of the libraries.
He said: “The budget is a work in progress. Scores of planning documents like the one referred to are regularly drawn up, debated and discarded as the council carefully considers how to manage a funding gap.”
Email: lindsay.burns@slp.co.uk
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