Last-ditch attempt to save Anlaby Park Library rejected
A LAST-DITCH plea to save Anlaby Park Library has been rejected by city councillors.
Campaigners called on the authority's ruling Labour group to postpone the closure of the popular library in The Greenway, west Hull.
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Campaign: Barbara Bourne and Derek Hannath protesting to save Anlaby Park Library. Picture: Rob Stebbing
It is scheduled to shut a week today after being earmarked for closure as part of the council's budget proposals.
A 2,000-name petition to try to delay the plans was put forward to a full council meeting yesterday, with library users claiming they needed more time to prepare a community- led takeover bid.
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But councillors say plans to close the library next week will go ahead, describing the move as "a necessary measure".
Instead, they have proposed a mobile library will cover the area.
Campaigners have dismissed this as being "completely inadequate".
Barbara Bourne, 77, of Legarde Avenue, west Hull, was one of the organisers behind the petition.
Mrs Bourne, who runs a knitting group at the library every Tuesday, said: "Anlaby Park Library is such a wonderful community hub.
"People in the area don't just go there to take out books, they go there to be sociable.
"We have a book club, a mothers' and babies' club and a knitting club.
"A mobile library is just completely inadequate. It won't be able to serve as many people and it will be quite far for people like me to walk."
Mrs Bourne again called on councillors to postpone the closure plans.
She said: "I strongly object to the council closing the library at all.
"It's one of the best libraries in the city and there are other less-used libraries that could have been shut down instead.
"We have now accepted the facility is going to close and we are asking for extra time to find volunteers to keep it running independently."
Elizabeth Ormerlod, of Anlaby Park Road, west Hull, is another leading figure in the campaign to keep the library open.
She said: "The library was due to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.
"It has given so much to the community and a lot of vulnerable and elderly people meet there.
"It will really be missed.
"We have not been given any time to find a way to keep the library running, it's just not on."
Lib Dem Councillor Karen Woods, who represents Anlaby Park, supported the petition to postpone closure plans.
She said: "It has been a very short window from the actual decision to close the library to getting here today."
But Labour cabinet portfolio holder for leisure Councillor Terry Geraghty admitted the issue of budget cuts had not been easy for the ruling group.
He said: "We don't want to make these cuts."
He claimed the west Hull area was still well-served with two other branch libraries within a mile of Anlaby Park.
9 Comments
by JohnEG
Saturday, March 23 2013, 1:01AM
“I've heard tonight that Anlaby Park Library is shutting for political reasons, which is what I've always suspected”
by JohnEG
Saturday, March 23 2013, 12:59AM
“Troy_Rudeface: Boothferry Ward and yes you are correct we do pay a heck of a lot of council tax, which has gone up by 1.9% - over £1300. I've always been a "floating voter", but labour will not get my vote again, along with cons and libdems. The whole system is draconian, why can't every one work together for the benefit of Hull?”
by Troy_Rudeface
Friday, March 22 2013, 4:36PM
“JohnEG - depends what you call the area. Are you counting Boothferry Estate and the area east of Pickering Road The people in the immediate area of the library probably pay more in the way of council tax than anyone else in Hull, but hey - they are there to subsidise the ******s of Boothferry & Gypsyville are they not? Anyone using that library knows it is frequented more by Anlaby Common, Anlaby Park and Anlaby High Road residents - but of course Anlaby Common is a 'no man's land' - cursed with an HU4 postcode & seperated from the other Haltemprice urban villages by a sea of awful traffic lights and the Common itself. What of Anlaby? Well it has a ****** little hut that is supposedly a library that is as much use as a chocolate teapot.
The answer is for intelligent people to move as far away from the Hull boundary as they possibly can.”
by VicMay
Friday, March 22 2013, 12:58PM
“Its a bit hypocritical for the Lib Dems to pretend they can afford to keep it running when it's their MPs that have savagely attacked Hulls budgets. Would like like to say which care homes they would try to shut down, again, to fund this?”
by JohnEG
Friday, March 22 2013, 11:44AM
“@Troy: It's hardly a "tory area". 2012 local elections LibDems 1196, Labour 1123, Cons 101 and Ukip 308 - 73 votes between 1st and 2nd.”
by Troy_Rudeface
Friday, March 22 2013, 9:26AM
“It's too close to the Anlaby boundary for these councillors to care less. Faced with cuts - why they shut a well-used library in what they'll see as a 'Tory area'?
Of course, to those in that area it won't help that the Anlaby & Willerby libraries are not up to much. They'll be too busy scheming to build on flood plains, knock down council estates & nightclubs & accepting back-handing off gypsy's to bother with this.
Vile games.”
by JohnEG
Friday, March 22 2013, 9:12AM
“The two libraries, I believe, are Wold Road and Gipsyville Library near North Road - it'll be easier using Central library.
The ironic situation is the footpath they built a few years ago from the east and west side - this path was built to help older people who found it difficult to walk the few extra yards to the north / south path!”
by RANDR
Friday, March 22 2013, 8:12AM
“There are no Hull libraries within a mile from Anlaby Park. Those that have been cited as alternatives (at least 1.3 miles away) are simply not feasible for many residents. City of Culture? Pahahahahahahaha.”
by goldenspecial
Friday, March 22 2013, 7:26AM
“City of Culture ?”