Lib Dems launch library petition

Labour-run Haringey Council is planning to cut library budgets by more than 30% over two years. This will mean shortening hours and leaving some buildings unmanned.

As Lib Dem councillors we oppose the deep cuts to our libraries proposed by Labour and will put forward our own plans at the council's budget meeting, including alternative savings such as stopping publishing the council's propaganda PR magazine so our libraries can continue to be properly funded.

But we need your help to show that residents also oppose these deep cuts!

If you support keeping our libraries open and properly staffed, please sign our petition here.

Labour's plans include cuts next year of £700,000, which will lead to reduced hours across branch libraries (Alexandra Park, Coombes Croft, Highgate, Muswell Hill, St Ann's, Stroud Green & Harringay) and removal of free newspapers and magazines. Then, the following year, plans are in place to make even deeper cuts which will move libraries to a 'self-service' model - replacement of professional librarians with volunteers, key card entry to libraries themselves, no access to toilets without staff present and no CCTV monitoring. But the costs of introducing self-service haven't even been properly calculated yet - so we may end up with a worse service for little or no saving!

All councillors will get a chance to vote on scrapping this proposal in a meeting on 4th March, and the more people who sign our petition, the better chance we have of saving the libraries from cuts.