Bagshot Library: Here we go again! (Surrey Heath Liberal Democrats

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Bagshot Library: Here we go again!

January 26, 2006 10:35 AM

Local people have been stunned and amazed to read in the Camberley Mail that there are fresh plans to close Bagshot library. The Conservative County Council announced a savage cost-cutting scheme to axe jobs and library services across the county.

Councillor Meurig Williams outside Bagshot Library In 1999 local Liberal Democrats supported a successful campaign to save the library from a previous Conservative plan to close it. 1300 local residents signed a petition in favour of keeping it open. In 2004, the Earl of Wessex reopened the library after the county council had spent thousands of pounds on refurbishing it and installing new computers with Internet access. This would appear to have been a waste on money if current closure plans go ahead!

Councillor Meurig Williams told Focus, "This proposal is nothing to do with community planning or the revitalisation of the library service. It is one of several desperate measures being proposed by a financially incompetent Conservative council far too late in the day to deal with a budget shortfall that they could and should have seen coming long ago."

In 1999, when the library successfully resisted closure, a Conservative Party newsletter pictured one of your local Conservative county councillors outside Bagshot library. It said he had vowed to fight to retain all the library services in the borough. It quoted him as saying, "I have been working to urge my fellow councillors to retain these very valuable services. I will continue to argue for the continuation of these gateways to learning and discovery."

Councillor Duncan Clark told Focus, "Despite their promises, the Conservatives seem intent on betraying Bagshot once again by removing one of our last valuable community services."

"This just goes to show that the Conservatives don't care about Bagshot. First they sell off our Youth Centre, and now they try to close our library. Where does our Council Tax go?"

Councillor Bryan Ward added, "Surrey County Council's own survey recently revealed that people wanted no cuts in library services. It's beyond belief that the Tories are blatantly ignoring the wishes of Surrey residents."