Shropshire Star

Church Stretton library ruling to be behind closed doors

A final decision on the future of a library will be made in the next few days – behind closed doors.

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Councillor Steve Charmley will rule on whether Church Stretton's library should leave its current base on Church Street and relocate to the town's secondary school at a meeting on Friday. Officers at Shirehall have recommended he should proceed with the plan.

But campaigners, who recently presented Shropshire Council with a 1,100 signature petition against the move, as well as a 37-page action plan on how to keep the library where it is and still make the required £55,000 savings, say they have been ignored in a "disregard for the democratic process".

Councillor Charmley, the authority's portfolio holder for business growth, ip&e, culture and commissioning, said he will take into account 325 formal responses to a public consultation on the library, 266 of which are against the proposal.

But in a report officers Michael Lewis and Kate Garner have recommended the plans for the move saying it will "create a modern, sustainable and accessible library service in Church Stretton that reflects the council's vision for a transformed library service as well as maximise revenue savings for the council".

Felicity Thomas, spokeswoman for Church Stretton Library Support Group, said: "This council has demonstrated a staggering degree of arrogance and disregard for the democratic process.

"If approximately 82 per cent of replies to a consultation say the library should stay where it is, and local residents offer ways of achieving that result, a well-directed, democratic and accountable council would accept the offer and work with local residents to achieve a mutually acceptable outcome."

But Mr Lewis said: "Shropshire Council notes the time and energy that members of Church Stretton Library Support Group have put into the creation of its response to the Church Stretton Library consultation, and notes its content as part of the consultation process."

He said many of the points raised in the campaign group's document had been addressed in an action plan that included such measures as creating a small satellite library service in the town centre to link to the main library.

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