Croydon’s Council’s Labour administration commissioned Red Quadrant’s report, which called for the relocation and reallocation of land that the libraries are on.
The Labour Cabinet then voted this report through. They have clearly been considering plans to close local libraries – even if they are backpedalling now the plans have been made public.
The level of public outrage that the libraries might be closed has been huge. In just two weeks the petition against any closures received over 1,700 signatures. It’s because of this that Labour are now denying that they ever considered closing the libraries.
There is no excuse to close the libraries. In the last year, the Government funding has meant that the Council’s total core spending has increased 3%, or £8.2 million.
I hope that in the future Croydon Labour will be more open and honest with residents about what plans they are or are not considering. It shouldn’t take a public outcry for them to make the right decision for residents.
The petition is available at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/saveourlibraries
