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Thursday 23 April 2009

MEDIA STATEMENT FROM WIRRAL COUNCIL

Thursday 23 April 2009

Re: Wirral Library Service

Leader of Wirral Council, Councillor Steve Foulkes said:

“The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has ordered a public inquiry into the decision. I cannot comment on the inquiry itself because I have not yet seen a statement of the grounds for that inquiry.

However, we welcome the inquiry in principle because at the heart of this issue is a debate about the best way to protect the future of this nation’s libraries, their place in our communities and the function we want the libraries of the future to deliver. From our perspective, the message on this issue from the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council has been somewhat mixed.

There is also a wider debate about the autonomy of local government to manage within its own resources, and about how much the government or the council tax payer is prepared to pay, in a time of very tight resources, for their library service in the face of competing and growing demands from other areas, including rising costs of child protection, rising costs of care for the elderly, rising costs of education and the need to protect the local economy in a time of recession.

ENDS

© copyright Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Reproduced under fair use for the dual purposes of comment and news reporting

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