Library closures to begin next week, council confirms

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

A series of library closures will begin next week despite an ongoing legal challenge

Caerphilly County Borough council has confirmed that 10 libraries will shut down on Monday September 8 following what the council called the High Court’s “refusal to grant an interim injunction” against it.

Critics had hoped to delay the closures after a campaigner requested a judicial review of the council’s plans.

The local authority’s leader, Cllr Sean Morgan, said he was “pleased to be able to press ahead with the plans to develop our community hubs” – a smaller cluster of library sites focused around larger towns, which the council believes will provide a wider range of services.

Campaigners opposing the library cuts say smaller communities will be the worst-hit by the closures, which risk sending them “back to Victorian times”.

Cllr Morgan said the council will “robustly defend the judicial review challenge ahead” of the council, while it gets its community hub model under way.

The ten libraries set to close on September 8 are in Aberbargoed, Abercarn, Abertridwr, Bedwas, Deri, Llanbradach, Machen, Nelson, Oakdale and Pengam.

Hubs

Meanwhile, the new hubs – planned for Bargoed, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Newbridge, Risca and Ystrad Mynach – will be developed based on the success of the renovated site in Rhymney, where visitors can access a range of council and other public services.

Cllr Morgan argues the hub model “will create something stronger and more sustainable for the future of the service built around the needs of the community”.

“The new hubs will be inclusive, community-focused spaces that bring services closer to the people who need them most, making accessing support simpler and more efficient,” he added.

However, the plans to close libraries in smaller locations have angered some in those communities, amid fears they will be left behind.

Earlier this year, councillors heard passionate defences of local libraries, as well as concerns the cuts could have the biggest impact on the youngest and oldest community members, as well as people who weren’t able to travel to a hub.

The council hopes it can eventually secure Community Asset Transfers for some sites, and hand over responsibilities for those library buildings to interested community groups.

‘Victorian’

But Mariam Kamish, the secretary of Caerphilly Trades Union Council who has supported local campaigners, said expecting communities to run their own libraries was a “Victorian” notion.

Speaking in August when the legal challenge was announced, she said campaigners “couldn’t let these libraries close without a fight”.

A solicitor at Harding Evans, the legal firm handling the bid for a judicial review, added he was “impressed with the dogged determination shown by the campaign to date, fighting to save such important community assets”.