Library closure 'a slap in the face'

Pelsall Library is one of a number of libraries across the borough set to close under council cost-cutting measures, however, councillor Gary Perry has said that he believes there is sufficient interest in the community to keep it open on a volunteer run basis.

Speaking at a Walsall Council full council meeting, councillor Perry handed over a 3,082 signature petition to bosses calling on the authority to consider keeping the building open.

However, he said that there seems to be an interest in looking to use the site on Pelsall Village Centre for a book exchange, which he claims goes against discussions had prior to the announcement earlier this year that the library was one of nine set to close.

Speaking at the meeting, councillor Perry said: “I don’t intent to debate the pros and cons of closing our library, we have heard them all before and I am sure everyone is aware of them.

“Since the announcement that Pelsall library would be affected by these closures, I have had meetings with community groups looking to take over the site on a voluntary basis.

“What we are being told is that there are plans in place to turn the library into a book exchange, which is a very different proposal to a library.

“Libraries are not just a place to get a book out, they offer respite for people in our community and a chance for people to talk on a level they otherwise don’t get the chance to do.

“The idea of allowing a book exchange to be put in place instead of allowing volunteers to run the site as it was before is a slap in the face.”

As well as being a fairly new library which was opened at vast expense to the council, Pelsall residents also argue that the library’s visitor figures are the highest in the borough apart from the main library in the town centre.

There are also queries over why the library was chosen for the chopping block when the council-owned building it is in, Pelsall Village Centre, will have to remain open anyway as it houses GP surgeries and the pre-school alliance.

Councillor Perry, who has served as a Pelsall councillor for nearly 19 years, set up the petition to keep the library open.