Private Eye
Issue No 1402
Library News | Herefordshire


AN ASBESTOS scare at Hereford library underlines the risks of Herefordshire council's plans to abandon all its other proper public libraries.

The town centre library and museum are to be shut for at least 12 weeks "in the interest of public and staff safety" after trace amounts of asbestos were found in older parts of the building.  Had the closure scheme already gone ahead, the whole county would have been without a library for three months (and thus, surely, in breach of the council's legal obligation to provide a "comprehensive and efficient" library service).

The closure plans, announced in August and still under discussion, would see the county keeping just the Hereford library as a properly staffed service.  Libraries in Leominster, Ross-on-Wye and Belmont would shut, while Bromyard, Ledbury and Kington would become "self-service" book-borrowing points supported by volunteers.  Campaigners thought they had fought off one set of closure plans in 2013, but the current scheme is even more drastic.

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Frances Hendrix

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

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