Despite more than 7,000 responses to a recent consultation on library cuts, county council confirms more than 20 closures, with others left unstaffed
Lancashire author Andrew Michael Hurley, the Costa award-winning novelist, has warned that “once libraries are closed down that’s it, they don’t come back”, after Lancashire county council confirmed it was set to go ahead with plans to close more than 20 local libraries.
The council proposed reducing its library network from 73 to 44 branches in May, in response to government cuts to its budget. After a consultation to which it received more than 7,000 responses, it recommended in a report on Friday that while a few libraries were facing a reprieve, more than 20 others would still be closed. The report goes to the council’s cabinet on 8 September.
It will be those who have least who will be the most impoverished and disempowered when libraries are closed.
Related: Library use in England fell dramatically over last decade, figures show
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