Letter to the editor - libraries

Dear Sir

Now that Green cabinet member Cllr Radice has, with others,  successfully lobbied the mayor to delay any closure of libraries, we need to look to the future.

It is completely obvious that for many of our libraries to succeed in the way many want, they need a substantial increase in investment. They need to be better resourced, open for longer, and better promoted.

We in the Green Party, therefore believe, we do not need a 20% cut in the libraries budget - as voted for by Bristol Labour and Conservative councillors. Far better would be a 20% increase.

Given that both main parties have also committed to further spending cuts whichever party forms the next government, we need to see evidence that their campaigns are more than just an election ploy - but to see a commitment from their parties to increase such expenditure in the long term. (It must also be noted that the Liberal Democrats, should they survive the election, are also committed to substantial further cuts).

Failure to deliver this is will lead to either a full complement of libraries which are scarcely ever open; or libraries run by untrained volunteers. Or closures.

The alternative would be to move the cut somewhere else - in which case, Labour and Conservative councillors  should tell us - who do you want to lose their job? What service would your party cut?

Yours