Joe Anderson now says 11 libraries will not close and has 'found' some money, perhaps £680,00, to keep some libraries as they are, ie public. But others may be sold or run with volunteers.

We have always rejected privatisation or libraries run by volunteers. We forced the changes and that is a victory, but it is a concession not a retraction or a complete U-turn.

"The reversal follows public demonstrations, including protesters who marched at the weekend and said that closures would make their nearest library locations too far away." Liverpool Echo 10 November.

They are right: without the constant leafleting, petition gathering, writing love letters, demand for a referendum, demonstrations, Anderson would not have moved. Even so he says he faced political activists, as if that is a problem and is if he is not a Labour Party leader following orders from London. But these activists clearly had the support of 10,000s of people in Liverpool, and Labour on the library cuts does not.

The demonstration last Saturday was very lively and successful. We had many banners and in a bucket collection we raised £217. We take this opportunity to thank all those who spoke, attended and gave money.

Joe Anderson says there is "interest in 7 libraries, £1.7 million in deals, we have £680,000 to find. But the house building programme has made savings etc. Make sure we keep all 11 libraries, reduce hours, not drastically. One stop shop into libraries."

But we want to see the details now!

We will continue with the campaign to save all our libraries as public libraries. The victory is because Joe Anderson has been forced to accept to keep libraries open and perhaps will find £680,000, which can mean keeping 3 or 4 libraries as they are. But we do not know how many will be run by volunteers or privatised.

We demand no cuts to public libraries and no staff sacking. Keep all libraries public and fully open!

Many library staff have told us they face discipline if they sign our petition, take our leaflet for a referendum on the libraries. We reject these bullying methods.

Our next event is a demonstration outside the Town Hall at 4pm on Wednesday.

We call on the council's unions to publicly support the Save Our Libraries demonstration, 4pm Wed 12 November Sign our petition, call for a referendum, keep all libraries public.

We also thank those from the Wirral and Sheffield who have helped us. Let's deepen our connections with all local communities fighting the keep libraries public.

 

Martin

 

 

 

Frances Hendrix

Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs, PR6 7QR

Tel:  01257 274 833.   Mobile: 0777 55 888 03