Putting Croydon First

Labour: fighting for you across Croydon

Library threat goes on till July

Croydon Council has taken a whopping £1million out of the borough Library budget in 2011/2012.

They have had such a response to their plans to close 6 branch libraries that they have decided to postpone making a decision until July 2011.

This is great news for local campaigners, but still not the news that we need to hear.

Labour has made it clear that none of our libraries should close because they are a key public service that must not be sacrificed on a political alter. We all know the cuts are too deep and too fast, but we must protect our basic public services.

Local government is about choices, and those choices must include supporting strong, vibrant public libraries.

Labours spokesperson on the Arts and Culture, Councillor Timothy Godfrey said "In the budget for 2011/12 the council is still planning to spend £10.5million on libraries and the arts. It is clear that they are not making the budget work hard enough if they are planning to shut 6 libraries. IT is vital that we put the front line first and cut back on wasteful expenditure in the back office."