Council waves through £1m cut to library budget despite fierce opposition
By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter
A council has waved through a £1million cut to the libraries budget, despite opposition from residents.
Lambeth Labour councillors approved the more than one fifth reduction to the 2025/26 libraries budget at a meeting on Wednesday.
Opposition Green Party councillors voted against the budget, while Liberal Democrat councillors abstained.
The Labour-run council has confirmed no libraries will close as a result of the savings package and opening hours will remain the same.
But the council has not said where the £1million in savings will come from. Lambeth was asked to provide details of how it would make the savings, but the council did not respond.
Before councillors voted on the budget on Wednesday, campaigner Laura Swaffield urged them to reject the cuts to libraries.
She said: “Research shows that reading books for enjoyment is the one chief factor in children making progress at school. They don’t get reading for enjoyment from school with the national curriculum.
“They get it from the library and to do that they need as much choice as possible so each child finds the book they want to read with the help of the librarian. You’ll do nothing but harm by making this cut.”
Protestors against the library cuts rallied outside Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton before the meeting, including members of Unison and the National Education Union.
Councillor Donatus Anywanwu, Cabinet Member responsible for libraries, said the council was committed to continuing investment in the borough’s 10 libraries and blamed previous Conservative and Liberal Democrat governments’ austerity policies for the cuts.
He said: “We have not only protected investment in our libraries, we have enhanced it because we know the heart of our communities is in our libraries.
“We will continue to invest heavily in them to make sure they are modern, accessible and fit for the future.”
Pictured top: Laura Swaffield addresses protestors outside Lambeth town hall on Wednesday (Picture: Lambeth Solidarity)