New chapter in library battle as protesters vow to step up fight

Public talks are currently being held after senior councillors in the city agreed to consult on shutting almost half the libraries in the Wakefield district in a move that would see the local authority continue to run only 13 of its 25 libraries.

The public consultation is due to end at the beginning of December and last night campaigners fighting the move warned that closing the libraries would result in a vital resource being taken away from communities. Libraries under threat are in Ackworth, Altofts, Crofton, Havercroft, Kettlethorpe, Kinsley, Middlestown, Outwood, South Kirkby, South Pontefract, Upton and Walton but their futures could depend on whether any community groups are interested in taking them on.

Karl Grubb, chairman of Supporters of Outwood Library (SOUL) said: “The library is a focal point for the community in Outwood, we have limited services in our area and it is used by a cross section of the community, not just for books but for access to the internet and to attend events and meetings.

“We have a readers group which meets once a month to read and review books, local fund raising groups use it for events.

“It’s value to Outwood cannot be calculated in simple financial terms.”

Mr Grubb said a petition started by SOUL has been signed by more than 200 people and the group is planning to hand this in to Wakefield Council on December 2 when the authority’s consultation comes to an end.

He said: “If Outwood was to close we would have to travel either to Stanley, which is around two miles away or to the new library in Wakefield which is again around two miles away, the people of Wrenthorpe lost their library, and use Outwood now, if Outwood closed they would have four miles to travel to reach their nearest library.

“Hopefully our campaign will communicate to the council the depth of feeling which exists and encourage the council to look again at any closure proposals.”

In July senior councillors in the city agreed that the council’s plans for a new-style service would go out to a third stage of the public consultation.

The council will collect views on what the service should be like and to build on the interest the authority said was already being shown by organisations themselves in running library services in the area.

The council has said a fund will be created to help other organisations deliver satellite services in communities where the authority says branch libraries are no longer being widely used.

It says interest in supporting the library service has come from organisations such as town and parish councils, a staff co-operative, faith group and community groups.

The authority needs to save £67m over four years.

A report to members of Wakefield Council’s cabinet in July said compulsory redundancies were likely.

Coun David Dagger, cabinet member responsible for libraries, said earlier: “We know that people are not satisfied with the quality of some library buildings, or with the quality and range of the books. And, since 1992, more than four out of every 10 library users have stopped going into libraries.”

Yesterday Lisa Dodd, Wakefield Council’s service director for sport and culture, said: “The consultation is an extremely important opportunity to improve and modernise our library service, to give people the service they want, and will use, rather than the service they’ve got at the moment.

“I urge all residents to take part as there is still time to have your say.”

People wanting to take part in the consultation can do so online by visiting the council’s website www.wakefield.gov.uk