Oxfordshire County Council Do U-Turn On Library Closures

With libraries across the UK under threat of closure, it was encouraging to hear today that Oxfordshire County Council have ‘torn up’ their plans to close nearly half their libraries.

Local news site, Banbury Cake, are reporting that the council have scrapped plans to close 20 of the 43 libraries in the county and now say they’re committed to working with the community to avoid any closures.

Savings still required
The leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell told Banbury Cake that savings were still required to be made and that some libraries would only remain open if volunteers came forward to help run them.

The rethink on closure proposals came after months of cmapaigning by local residents.

Read the full story on Banbury Cake. Also reported in the Oxford Mail.

Regular blogger
We noticed that the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell, is a regular blogger, just like our previous Chief Executive, Joe ‘Vera’ Duckworth, although his blogs were far less regular.

Many thanks to Desmond Clarke for pointing us in the direction of this news.

Image: © Oxfordshire County Council