Anger as Derby plans to hand over most of city's libraries to volunteers

Campaigners condemn strategy to retain four council-run branches, but pass the other 11 to voluntary operations

Derby city council’s plans to hand 11 libraries over to volunteers have been slammed by campaigners as tantamount to destroying them.

Derby has said that “as a result of the government continuing to cut local government funding”, it needs to slash £648,000 from its libraries budget. It has proposed a series of options, of which its preferred choice is to close the city’s central library, relocating it to a new “Derby Riverside library”, and to hand 11 other branches over to volunteers, according to the Derby Telegraph. Under the proposal, just four libraries, including Riverside, would continue to be run by the council, with each community-run library given an average annual grant of £17,500.

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