Britton asks Government to Protect Lewisham’s Libraries - 505/03/11

Cllr. David Britton, the Leader of the Conservative Group on Lewisham Council has asked the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport to use his powers under the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964 to protect Lewisham’s libraries.

Cllr. Britton wrote to the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt MP, on 3 March requesting that he use his powers of intervention under Section 10 of the Act because the closure by the Labour Mayor of five of the Lewisham’s libraries would mean that the Council would fail to comply with its legal responsibility to

“provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof”.

Cllr. Britton said:
“I have taken the highly unusual step of asking the Secretary of State to intervene to investigate the closure of the five libraries targeted by the Mayor because this will result in such a dramatic reduction in library service in the borough that the Council will be in breach of the law.

“The twenty five thousand local residents who signed petitions objecting to the library closures have made it clear that they do not accept Sir Steve Bullock’s arguments and believe that the Council should find other ways to save money.

“If Labour councillors will not listen to local residents – and they all voted in favour of the closures – then we have no choice but to ask Mr Hunt to save the Council from its own mismanagement"

Background information:

1          All library authorities have a duty to provide comprehensive library services in their area (Section 7 of the Act) and if the Secretary of State either receives a complaint, or own his own initiative considers an authority may be in breach of its obligations, he can cause a local inquiry to be held and if this upholds the complaint, he can direct the authority as to how it should carry out its duties under the Act (Section 10 (1) of the Act.