Sarah Teather responds to Brent Libraries court decision
December 20, 2011 10:21 AM
Brent Central MP Sarah Teather has expressed her disappointment that the Court of Appeal has today refused to overturn the High Court judgement that allowed the Labour-run Brent Council to close half of the borough's libraries. The six libraries - Kensal Rise, Cricklewood, Neasden, Tokyngton, Barham Park and Preston - now face closure.
Library campaigners felt forced to take their campaign to the High Court when Brent Council dismissed proposals for community groups to take over the running of the Libraries. The campaigners brought the judicial review on the grounds that Labour-run Brent Council's decision was unlawful, discriminatory and would damage local communities.
In light of today's judgement and the fact that no other area has suffered the loss of such a large proportion of their libraries, Sarah has written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, urging him to launch an inquiry into Brent Council's decision.
The Court of Appeal's ruling comes after it was disclosed that Brent Council have spent over £154,000 on legal costs as a result of its decision to close the libraries, and a further £258,411.89 on sacking staff and redundancy costs. After today's decision, the legal fees are expected to rise by at least another £10,000.
Commenting, local Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather said:
"The people of Brent have made it crystal clear, time and time again, that they want their local libraries to stay open and yet the Labour-run Council still will not listen.
"I cannot help but feel that the money spent on legal fees and redundancy costs would be much better spent providing key library services for local people. It would be great if instead of running up huge bills, the Council would sit down with the campaigners and discuss their concerns and ideas for keeping the libraries open.
"I have written to Jeremy Hunt to ask him to launch an inquiry into the Council's decision to close half of Brent's libraries; a decision that will disadvantage the most vulnerable members of our communities.
"The campaigners have shown fantastic courage in their continued fight to prevent the closures of these valuable local centres. I know they will carry on trying to save the six libraries and I will be supporting them in any way I can."
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