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Campaigners urge Vaizey: 'it's time to act'

13.12.11 | Benedicte Page

A joint open letter urging culture minister Ed Vaizey to intervene over library closures is gaining signatories from library campaign groups across the country.

The letter, posted on the site of Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries has already been endorsed by Campaign for the Book; Surrey Libraries Action Movemen; Hertfordshire group We ♥ Libraries; The Friends of the Isle of Wight Library Service; campaigners in Brent; and authors including Jamila Gavin.

The letter tells the minister: "We are writing to express our shared dissatisfaction with your execution of your responsibility to superintend public library services. Council after council is viewing public libraries as a ‘soft target’ for spending cuts."

It tells Vaizey that "countless" library users from all over the country have written to him over their concerns during the past year and asked for his intervention. But his inaction on the issue has left them forced to fight "long, stressful and costly legal battles" which would not have been necessary had he and his department fulfilled their duty to superintend, the letter reads.

The letter concludes: "It is time to act Mr Vaizey. Those who rely on public libraries across the country, including some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our communities, need your support and firm reassurance that you will superintend in line with your responsibilities as secretary of state."

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By Shirley Burnham

Mr Vaizey is not Secretary of State; that is Mr Hunt.

But the reluctance of Mr Vaizey, as Minister, to respond to all those who have relied on him as their first line of defence is a very sorry saga that has done the public a disservice. With his total acquiescence, the library service is being systematically dismantled -- and the Secretary of State, to whom I would have addressed this letter, is well and truly wrong-footed because his trusted Advisor has utterly failed to advise.

Whatever Mr Vaizey's title, this letter of protest is an indictment of his conduct that should motivate him, or shame him, into taking steps to put matters right.

Tue, 13/12/2011 - 14:05

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