Fight for libraries to continue as funding is cut (From Thisisdorset)

Fight for libraries to continue as funding is cut

2:30pm Friday 11th November 2011 in News By Joanna Davis

CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight on after councillors voted to withdraw funding from nine Dorset libraries.

A highly-charged Dorset County Council meeting saw councillors vote for a second time to take away core funding from nine of the county’s 34 libraries.

Campaigners now say they will take the issue to the Secretary of State.

In July, the proposal to withdraw funding was carried by just one vote at a meeting.

It was put back on the agenda following a motion from the Liberal Democrat group – the first standing order of its kind to be used in 20 years.

The nine libraries that will lose funding are Wool, Corfe Castle, Colehill, Stalbridge, Burton Bradstock, Charmouth, Chickerell, Portland Underhill and Puddletown.

The vote was split down party lines with 25 Conservative councillors voting against the motion to keep the libraries funded and 14 Lib Dem and Labour councillors voting for it.

Three councillors abstained from voting.

Cabinet member Councillor Hilary Cox said residents will ‘step up to the plate’ and volunteer to run the libraries.

She said: “I think this gives villagers a great opportunity.

“I’m voting against the motion. I have great faith in the residents of Dorset.”

Lib Dem leader Councillor Janet Dover said the council could afford to keep funding the libraries.

She suggested that some of the £28.1million the council has recovered from Icelandic banks that collapsed in 2008 could now be used for library funding.

She added: “Nearly £200,000 has already been spent on the transfer of these nine libraries.

“Chairman, you couldn’t make it up. Who said that the transfer of the nine libraries in these communities would save money?”

Council leader Angus Campbell said: “This is a serious situation. I don’t believe it would be a good forward decision to try to rescind what is under way. I will vote against the motion.”

Ad Lib campaigners urged councillors to keep all libraries open by making cuts across the service.

• SPEAKING after the meeting, Ad Lib campaigners and library users said they were ‘upset’ and ‘disappointed.’ Eileen Osgood, 71, who uses Wool Library, said: “I’m disappointed. This is a short-sighted decision.

“We don’t know the answer to how it will work with the community running it.”

Library user David Tattersall, said: “We’re upset and miserable.

“Who’s going to pay for the cost of keeping these buildings open?

“We won’t be able to fundraise for this as individuals.

“If we can’t raise the money what are we going to do?”

Campaigners said they would be arranging a meeting with Dorset MPs and taking the decision to the Secretary of State.

Graham Lee, chairman of Ad Lib, said: “We’re not down and out and we’re not giving up.”