New Mill Library campaigner demands showdown

Mar 28 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

New Mill Library campaigner demands showdown

A COUNCILLOR who plans to close a library has been challenged to visit the village and justify the decision.

Kirklees Council’s Labour / Lib Dem Cabinet plans to shut New Mill Library to save money.

But Clr Donald Firth, who represents the village, wants the Cabinet member for regeneration Clr Christine Stanfield to tell the people of New Mill why their library should close.

He said: “I would challenge Clr Stanfield to attend a public meeting in New Mill to justify the closure. She would see the strength of opposition to this proposal.”

Clr Firth has collected more than 1,000 signatures to a petition against the library’s closure. The Holme Valley South Conservative said: “Local people are very much against the library closing. It is at the heart of the community and offers far more than just book-lending. The library is used by schools, effectively serves as a tourist information point and provides PCs to help people become computer-literate.”

The council’s Cabinet has justified the closure on the grounds that New Mill has the fewest active borrowers of any library in Kirklees.

In 2006/07 the library had 272 active borrowers and issued 13,731 books. The following year New Mill had 288 active borrowers and issued 13,933 books.