Library Campaign lodges complaint against Croydon to DCMS

The Library Campaign has submitted a formal complaint to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) against London Borough of Croydon.

The complaint, filed under Section 10 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, asks for DCMS to investigate the council’s plans for its current libraries.

It says there have been numerous faults in a consultation process relating to the closure of four libraries in the area.

“Our principal concern is that consultees were presented with no coherent plan for the claimed ‘targeted’ services to mitigate the acknowledged damage from the four closures,” the complaint states, adding that 66% of respondents to the consultation strongly opposed any library closures.

“The result – though we stress again that there is no plan at all, and no costings – seems guaranteed to be an unsatisfactory ‘mitigation’ patchwork of provision that will be an enduringly inefficient drain on staff and funds,” the complaint adds.

The Library Campaign has asked DCMS to deal with the matter with urgency, citing that a decision is expected from the council on September 25.