Brent Libraries - closure or 'transformation'? Putting the record straight

 

Mike Phipps reviews Transforming Brent Libraries, by James Powney, published by AuthorHouse, and sets the record straight on an important local struggle. Reprduced on Wembley Matters with the permission of the author. Furst published on Labour Hub.

Some years ago I was involved in a small way in the campaign to prevent the closure of a local library. Frustrated at the fact that the Chair of my Constituency Labour Party repeatedly and on specious grounds kept ruling out of order my branch’s motion opposing the Council’s cuts to local libraries – the CLP Chair was himself a Councillor, never a good idea – I gave an interview to the local paper.

I said there was real anger about the library closures and it was proving to be the most toxic issue for the Party locally since the war in Iraq. I added: “I think it is inevitable that James Powney will be held personally responsible for the way he has handled these closures.”

 

Naming this local Councillor, the lead member responsible for the closures, was not mischief-making on my part. It was intended to protect the local Party from a wrong, vote-losing policy, which was allowing local Lib Dem activists to grandstand over the issue – the same party in government that was cutting local authority grants which put councils in such a desperate financial plight. “The tragedy would be that the Liberal Democrats would benefit when it is their government pushing through these cuts,” I pointed out.

 

It must have been a quiet week in Brent, which is in northwest London, because the interview was put on the front page. It elicited a phone call from the Chair of the CLP, who had never contacted me before (or since), saying how much he admired all the work I did for the Party, etc., etc., but couldn’t I just drop this issue and move on?

 

That would have been difficult. The whole library closure programme felt like a great injustice locally, given that 82 per cent of residents who took part in the consultation said they didn’t want the libraries to close. In the interview, I said: “I don’t think the consultation was undertaken seriously and I don’t think that the process whereby local groups were invited to put their ideas forward to rescue the library was taken seriously either.”

 

The contempt with which campaigners’ alternative proposals were met by Councillors responsible now seems undeniable from the latest evidence – an account by the key perpetrator of the closure programme.

 

I didn’t know James Powney had written a book about all this until I saw a letter he wrote to the Guardian last December publicising it. Transforming Brent Libraries is mercifully short at 71 pages, and self-published, for good reason. It would be hard to see this making the best-seller list.

 

As Lead Member for Environment and Neighbourhood Services in the London Borough of Brent, Powney “oversaw the successful transformation of Brent Library service in raising both the total number of loans and visitors to become one of the most successful public library services in the UK,” trumpets the opening line of his biographical note.

 

But this doesn’t tell the full story. He also presided over the closure of half of the Borough’s libraries. The scale of protests – meetings, demonstrations, media activity, celebrity involvement – within and beyond Brent was immense. Powney later refers to protesters as a “baying mob”.

 

He claims the campaign was “principally led by a small number of single issue campaigners, many of whom were not from the area.” But the anger against the closures was very local and was reflected inside the local Labour Party where Powney was a Councillor.

 

 'Pop Up' Library outside the closed Kensal Rise Library

 

One of the most contested closures was that of Kensal Rise library, originally opened by Mark Twain over a century earlier. It was located in Kensal Green ward where I was Chair of the local Labour Party branch and which Powney represented as a Councillor. Meetings were poorly attended until the closures were announced. Then angry members began to turn up in droves. At the earliest opportunity, Party members voted to deselect him as their Council candidate.

 

In the Acknowledgements, Powney writes: “In writing this book, I should acknowledge some debts, possibly including the Friends of Kensal Rise Library (FKRL) who through sheer determination and litigiousness stretched the whole saga out to make enough material for a book.” This mocking, supercilious tone towards campaigners, invariably disparaged as “litigants”, becomes increasingly wearing as the book drags on. The unfortunate Powney finds he has do a lot of ‘explaining’ of how things work to the ignorant activists, a “continuous barrage” of whom had the cheek to turn up to his Councillor surgeries.

 

Equally ignorant, in this version of events, were the celebrities that campaigners sought to “drag in” to promote their cause. They are treated with some contempt here – apparently, celebrities care about libraries only because they remind them of their childhood.

 

Creative ideas to take over the running of libraries that the Council was seeking to shed from its remit are dismissed as the interference of a “lumpenproletariat”, hopelessly tainted by association with Cameronian notions of a “Big Society”.

 

At the end of this tedious rant, Powney attempts to draw some lessons from the whole sorry experience. The main one seem to be: what a pain pressure groups are, and how unscrupulously they are prepared to exploit their celebrity backing to “magnify the noise made without any interest in truthfulness.”

But happily, “After the decision is done, those who opposed it are surprisingly forgetful of the position they took.” That can’t be right – if it were, Powney would not have been deselected as a Kensal Green Councillor by his own Party.

 

It would be unfair to blames James Powney solely for this debacle. As he rightly says, all members of the Council Executive voted the libraries project though unanimously, despite what he concedes was a “massive petition” in opposition.

 

 

Arguably the campaign against library closures and the publicity it generated contributed to the ousting of the then leader of Brent Council in May 2012. By then the issue had been in the local newspaper virtually every week for eighteen months, taking up quite a few front pages, as on November 18^th 2010, when the Willesden and Brent Times opened, under a banner headline “IT’S OUTRAGEOUS” with “Council chiefs spent more than £600,000 on refurbishing two libraries – just months before announcing plans to close them.”

 

Editor's note.  Many thanks to Mike Phipps for permission to republish this article. Search Wembley Matters for further coverage of the issue.

Reprise: The Battles of Kensal Rise and Preston Libraries

I thought that after today's news it was worth playing these videos again. Respect to the Kensal Rise and Preston campaigners and those from Barham and other libraries.

Brent Labour's 'Spring Clean' continues as Ann John deselected and Powney not short-listed

The Preston Library 'Wall of Shame' demonstrates residents' anger

 It's a bit like one of those property programmes on TV when an 'expert' moves in to help sell a house that hasn't attracted any buyers and proceeds to move out all the old furniture and give it a lick of paint and other cosmetic touches..

This is what Brent Labour appear to be doing, with first the new look Executive replacing some of the tired veterans, and now Ann John has been deselected making way for a new face.  John's demise will appear to many as the result of library closures coming home to roost. James Powney failed to make the short-list for his own Kensal Green ward but could apply for another ward.

Mindful of Harold Wilson's dictum that 'a week is a long time in politics' Labour will be hoping that the electorate will be impressed by their spruced up property when it goes on the market in May 2014.

Certainly the new lead member for Environment and Neighbourhoods, Cllr Roxanne Mashari, will have to do far more than apply cosmetics if she is to deal with the toxic issue of library closures with the campaigns still up and running and the umbrella SOS Brent Libraries group due to meet at the weekend.

Spare some time for Preston Community Library

Message from Preston Community Library

We are please to announce that Preston Community Library a charitable company, has now obtained Charitable status. 

The books from the pop up library and others are at 235 Preston Road which, subject to volunteers  and suitable safeguards to the office, is proposing to open initially from 10am to 1.00pm on Sundays from the 14th October and Thursdays 2.30pm to 4.30pm from the 18th October (we selected Sunday because there is free parking in Preston Road)

However as Saturday 13th October 2012 is the anniversary of the date when Brent closed the six libraries, 235 Preston Road will be open so residents can join the library and current members can borrow books.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!!!!

There is much to do and even half an hour or an hour would help.  We have something for everybody from sticking labels into books, designing notices, keying information into the computer, moving furniture, putting up shelves, sorting books, etc.

The office is open from 8.00am until 3.00pm Monday to Friday and at times has to be closed when we are transporting books so volunteers are urgently required.

Volunteers are also needed to staff the office on the days the library is open to check books out, and tidy returned books etc.

CAN YOU HELP AT ANY TIME BETWEEN NOW AND THE 13TH OCTOBER?
 IF SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. 
IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER,
PLEASE FORWARD THIS LINK TO THEM 

Kind regards

Jacqueline Bunce-Linsell
Volunteer Manager
Preston Community Library
Tel:  020 8904 2229
Mobile:  07905 846483
E-mail:  prestoncommunitylibrary@live.co.uk

The value of local libraries

Barry Gardiner: The case against Brent's library closures

This is the evidence submitted by Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North to the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee Inquiry into library closures.

As you will be aware my constituency Brent North has suffered significant library closures with the closure of two libraries (Preston Library and Barham Park Library) in my constituency alone and an overall 50% reduction of the total library provision across the Borough of Brent. 

I have made it clear to the local Council that I do not support their decision to close the libraries in the borough and remain very concerned about the impact that these closures will have on my constituents. I have stressed to the Council that whilst everyone will understand that libraries should not take priority at the expense of elders’ care or child protection they should be prioritised over many other areas of the Council’s work. It is my concern that this reasoning has not been applied in the case of Brent Council. 

I have made representations to the Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries Ed Vaizey MP asking for his intervention in this matter. I asked that the Minister consider specifically whether Brent Council’s decision to reduce the boroughs’ library provision by such an extent constitutes a failure in their duty "...to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof.." under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museum Act. 

I am therefore pleased to see that the issue of library closures and the appropriateness of the current legislation about the provision of library services are to be given attention by the Committee. 

What constitutes a comprehensive and efficient library service for the 21st Century? 

I consider this to be an integral point of review by the Committee and one that has direct implications for the Committee’s other point of consideration – the Secretary of State's powers of intervention under the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964.

I believe that the vagueness surrounding the definition of what is considered a comprehensive and efficient library service has weakened the Secretary of State’s powers to intervene and overturn a local authority’s decision to close libraries. 

It would be helpful for the Committee to suggest criteria against which comprehensiveness and efficiency could be judged for both rural and urban areas. By setting various standards and defined criteria this will better inform the Secretary of State’s decision when making a judgement on whether the service is inadequate. In this respect I wish to focus my remarks only on proximity and demography. 

Proximity and Usage 

In Brent the Council has set out its intention to improve the service that is offered at the six remaining libraries. Their hope is that by improving the service in a reduced number of outlets, more people will be encouraged to use the service overall. In this regard I think Brent is an interesting case study in the review of what should be considered comprehensive and efficient. In particular does the service in the remaining six have to be improved before the other six cease operating? 

What has been overwhelming in my constituents’ response is the value they put on the locality of library provision and how if you remove the local element this disadvantages certain communities, irrelevant of whether the service at a library located further away is being improved. I would argue that this should be a central component of what constitutes a comprehensive and efficient library service. In rural communities this may be replicated by regular visits of mobile libraries to small local communities. 

The libraries closing in Brent serve a highly dense and often multiply disadvantaged population for whom ease of walking access is economically vital. This factor is particularly poignant for the most vulnerable library user groups such as the children and the elderly. It is these groups that are unable to make the journey to a library that is further away either as a result of the added costs or because they are physically unable to make such a journey. By removing local libraries there is an unfair impact on these vulnerable users. As such it is important that when redefining a comprehensive and efficient library provision that the ease of access for vulnerable communities should be a key criterion. 

There is a sad trend in councils up and down the country to run down service provision in what are seen as non-revenue raising areas such as libraries and allotment gardens. The argument is then adduced that the service is under-used or costs too much per capita and the case is made by Council officials to sell off the buildings or the land. This is what appears to have happened in Brent. 

The six libraries put forward for closure are said to be "poorly located and have low usage". It is clear to me that people living in Preston, Sudbury, Northwick Park and Kenton do not regard Preston or Barham Park Library to be nearly as poorly located for them as the closest alternative. Where there really is under-usage the solution should be to invest in improving the service on offer so that the locality aspect is maintained as much as possible.

A comprehensive library service must also reflect the needs of modern communications with a minimum number of computer terminals with full fast internet access where students of all ages can conduct research. The number of terminals should reflect demographic factors that will influence community demand such as age profile and household wealth. 

Poorer areas with a high school age population should be required to have a far greater number of terminals than wealthier areas with a low number of school children. 

Areas of high immigration should reflect the indigenous languages of significant local communities in their stock of books.

Brent Labour isolated on library closures as Ken backs campaign

The number of senior Labour Party figures opposed to Brent Labour Council's library closures was joined by Ken Livingstone when his Head of Research and Policy wrote to Brent library campaigners.

Ken regards libraries as a valuable resource for the whole community and is opposed to their wholesale closure.

Ken supports the campaign to keep libraries open in Brent and wishes the campaign every success.

If he is elected Mayor in May he will add his voice and use his office to help prevent library closures.

Michael Burke
Head of Research & Policy Development

Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North has already opposed the Brent closures and Ed Miliband, Labour leader, has opposed library closures in general.

Council failed to investigate whether library closures indirectly discriminated against Brent Asians, QC claims

Outside the High Court today

The public gallery  of Court 63 was crowded with Brent library campaigners today as the first day of the Appeal was being heard.  The Appellant's QC made it clear that the library campaigners' case was based on the process that Brent Council followed in its consultation and decision to close the libraries, rather than whether it was right to close libraries as such.

She focused particularly on the Council's failure to recognise that its own data signalled the possibility that the closure of the six libraries would indirectly discriminate against the Asian population of Brent. The figures showed that whilst Asians constituted 28% of the Brent population, they accounted for 46% of library users while the white population of 45% accounted for only 29% of users. As 3 of the six libraries that were closed served areas with higher than average  Asian population,  they were left with only Ealing Road library in the ward with the most dense Asian population. (Before the closure of the other libraries more than 60% of Ealing Road users were Asian)  So not only were people deprived of their own libraries but the remaining library at Ealing Road, as later evidence testified, had become over-crowded as a result of the closures.

Cllr Ann John appears outside the High Court

The QC also drew attention to the fact that despite their high usage of libraries only 21% of responses to the consultation came from Asians. She argued that this should have alerted the Council to ask why Asians used libraries more than other groups and  why they had not been effective at getting the views of the Asian population. A double whammy. There had been no attempt by the Council to investigate if Asians would be more affected than other user groups.

A further argument was that the Equalities Impact Assessment, as required by legislation, had been done at the last minute, and after the decisions about closure had already been made for all practical purposes. Although the EIA was very long it was premised on the Council's belief that there was 'no risk' of indirect discrimination and therefore did not analyse the data. It was a question of 'never mind the quality, feel the width'. The Appellant's submission was that the Council had an erroneous approach to the EIA and had claimed that 'only' the elderly, those with a disability and the very young,(those who could not travel or migrate to other libraries), would be affected.

Crucial Libraries Appeal hearing Thursday - Try and Get Along

The Brent Libraries appeal hearing will begin tomorrow in the Court of Appeal at 10.30 am in Court 63, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London. Please try and come along for the hearing: the physical presence of those who case about cases like this makes a real difference.

The hearing will last 1 ½ days, possibly extending a little into Friday afternoon. The Appellants’  new QC, Dinah Rose, will open and close the case with the Council’s QC making her own submissions half way through. Dinah will argue the Council:

• did not appreciate the likely impact of its plans to close libraries on particular groups in the community, such as Asian people, and without understanding this impact properly could not make a lawful decision compatible with its Equality Act 2010 duties to eliminate discrimination;

•  did not assess need for local library services, especially that of children; and

• was unfair to community groups who put forward proposals to save the threatened libraries.

The legal team cannot be sure when the judgement will be forthcoming but it is likely to be speedy as the Court appreciates the importance of the case.

Willesden Green Library Report Now Going to December Executive

The Brent Executive will now consider the report on the redevelopment of Willesden Green Green Library at their December meeting. The item was originally tabled for discussion at Wembley's meeting but no report was available on the Council website.

Redevelopment would involve the demolition of the existing building and a rebuild that would include flats and possibly retail outlets. The Council is searching for developers interested in such a scheme. The delay may indicate that the proposals are hitting problems in the current economic climate but could also be linked to the High Court appeal being heard on Thursday and Friday of this week.

If the development were to take place the library would be closed for two years with only minimal alternative facilities and would add a further library to the six already closed by the council.

The Long March to Kingsbury Library Plus

Library campaigners from a few months old to people in their 80s took part in a long march from South Kenton to Kingsbury Road today to demonstrate how far they had to go to a library now that Preston Library has been closed. Liberal  Democrat and Conservatives councillors were on the march along with Green Party candidates and dissident members of Brent Labour Parry but the majority of people were simply residents furious at losing their valued local library and incensed at how they have been treated by Brent Council.

The march took about an hour, excluding a short refreshment stop.  As one of the slower ones said, "By the time we get there our books will be overdue!"

International solidarity at South Kenton

Pause at the boarded up Preston Library 'Wall of Shame'

A message for councillors on the 'Wall of Shame'

Children are one of the groups most affected by the closures

We stopped for refreshments....

...and caught up on the latest campaign news

Even the famous suburban privet came out in sympathy!

Kingsbury Library at the end of the long march

When we got to the Kingsbury Library some campaigners popped in to look at the facilities. Many were surprised by how small it was and it certainly looked crowded with just the addition of a few of us. One campaigner fondly remembered the 'long table' at Preston Road library which fostered conversations and community solidarity.

A mother with two young sons said it just didn't feel like her 'local library'. At Preston she had known all the staff and felt comfortable to let her children explore the library without close supervision. She had known most of the users by sight.  Localism and feelings of safety and ease would be missing if she had to use this library.

The Transport for London Journey Planner gives two routes from South Kenton to Kingsbury Library Plus. The first is a train to Kenton and then a 183 bus and the other a 223 bus to Wembley Park and then the Jubilee line to Kingsbury. Not exactly user friendly.

Weighty message delivered to Jeremy Hunt

From Save Preston Library Campaign:

At 10 am, on October 26th,  we went to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in central London to present 12,000 signatures and hundreds of letters to the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt.  400 were by kids alone. We demand he fulfil his responsibility to.investigate whether Brent’s new library service is “comprehensive and efficient” (as it should be under Museums.and Libraries Act 1964).

He met the council in June, but has he heard our side? Nope. The sheer volume of complaints to him should persuade him to do so.

Brent's library statement a 'masterpiece of political bullshit' - Pullman

From the GUARDIAN

Philip Pullman has lambasted Brent council for its comment that closing half of its libraries would help it fulfil "exciting plans to improve libraries", describing the statement as a "masterpiece" which "ought to be quoted in every anthology of political bullshit from here to eternity". "All the time, you see, the council had been longing to improve the library service, and the only thing standing in the way was – the libraries,” said the His Dark Materials author, speaking at the national conference of library campaigners on Saturday, where over 80 people from around the country gathered to share tactics on how to save the UK's beleaguered libraries.

With 600 of England’s libraries threatened with closure, Pullman called the campaigners’ battle a "war against stupidity". Citing campaigns to save libraries in Oxfordshire as well as in Brent, Pullman said "the war we're fighting is not against this party or that one, this flag or another flag, our parents or our MP or anyone else in particular: it’s against stupidity. And stupidity is not to be underestimated. The poet Schiller, whose great words on the subject of Joy were set in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, knew what a huge part stupidity plays in human affairs: 'Against stupidity,' he said, 'the gods themselves struggle in vain.'

Having worked himself as a library assistant in Charing Cross Road library in the early 70s, Pullman said "if you really want complete freedom of choice, complete openness of information, where nobody is spying on you, no one is selling your presence to advertisers, the only place to find it is a library, where they keep books."

He highlighted the Summer Reading Challenge, run by the Reading Agency, which encourages children to read six books over the summer holidays. This year a record 780,000 children took part. "Only the libraries could provide the materials and the staff to make this possible. And nothing could be more important, if we have the well-being of our children at heart," said Pullman.

After listening in on sessions at the conference – which covered everything from legal challenges to library closures to using volunteers to keep libraries open – Pullman said he "saluted everyone who's come here today, everyone who's protesting and demonstrating to save this library or that one, everyone who's devising a way of preserving one of the greatest and the best gifts any society has ever given its seekers after truth, its children, its old people, everyone who is looking for help better to enjoy life or better to endure it".

"There's nothing more valuable in the war against stupidity than the public library. These are hard times, but you are each guarding a beacon," said the author. "The book is second only to the wheel as the best piece of technology human beings have ever invented. A book symbolises the whole intellectual history of mankind; it's the greatest weapon ever devised in the war against stupidity. Beware of anyone who tries to make books harder to get at. And that is exactly what these closures are going to do – oh, not intentionally, except in a few cases; very few people are stupid intentionally; but that will be the effect. Books will be harder to get at. Stupidity will gain a little ground."

The conference’s organisers, The Library Campaign and Voices for the Library, said that one demand from the day was to take the fight to save libraries to a national level, with suggestions including a march on Downing Street. Pullman said that "if it was at all possible", he would join them.

"We already share the same determination," said The Library Campaign chair Laura Swaffield. "If councils insist on fighting us instead of working with us, we will fight back. If central government goes on shirking its duty to support libraries, we will keep on at them. We won't give up. We can’t."

Children miss out on half-term library activities

Half-term holiday and time for children to take part in the much publicised 'Word Up!' events at their local library. Except of course for those who use one of the six libraries closed by the Council.  These are the events that should have happened this week:

• Monday 24 October: Create your own heritage collage – Tokyngton Library
• Monday 24 October: Create your own rangoli patterns – Barham Park Library
• Tuesday 25 October: Handa’s surprise: create your own basket – Kensal Rise Library
• Tuesday 25 October: Create your own Diwali diya lamp – Neasden Library
• Thursday 27 October: Create your own Diwali diya lamp – Tokyngton Library
• Friday 28 October: Create a 3D firework picture – Preston Library
• Saturday 29 October: Create your own scary Halloween mask – Tokyngton Library

Campaign redoubles its efforts against Brent Council's 'senseless' library closures

Brent SOS Libraries, which represents campaigners at all six libraries closed by Brent Council issues the following statement after the High Court ruling that found against them:

We are obviously disappointed with the decision given by the judge today. We will be consulting with our lawyers on our legal options. We are determined to appeal if allowed to do so.

We believe that there are important points of principle at stake which an appeal court will decide differently.

Our campaign will redouble its efforts to expose the senselessness of Brent Council’s decision to close half of its libraries.

Although this seems an unequal struggle between Brent Council, with its extensive resources, and the people of Brent, who have waged the largest campaign ever seen in the 45 year history of the borough, we will be redoubling our efforts to prevent six libraries being closed for ever. If the council proceeds with these closures they will deny the people of Brent, a significantly deprived borough, the opportunity to study and read in a quiet accessible library. We are very concerned about the impact on the vulnerable and disadvantaged, including children and young people, now and for generations to come.

We strongly believe and continue to believe that Brent’s decision is wrong, and that the manner in which Brent arrived at that decision was unreasonable and unfair.

Our campaign to save the libraries in Brent continues because we challenge the idea that Brent can provide a comprehensive library service by closing half the number of libraries in the borough.
In the meantime, we demand that, in light of the serious concerns raised by local residents, Brent will take the time, before closing the doors of any library, to properly consider the options proposed by local groups to preserve local library services, and open a dialogue with those groups to find constructive solutions for our communities.

Brent Council has already spent over £70,000 of residents’ money on this legal case and they should not waste any more money in pursuing a library closure policy that the vast majority of Brent residents oppose.
We also call upon Jeremy Hunt Secretary of State for Culture, and Ed Vaizey the Minister responsible for libraries, to do their duty and decide on whether Brent can live up to its obligations to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library service by closing half of the borough’s libraries. They should now intervene to investigate this matter. A great many letters and signatures on petitions have gone to Jeremy Hunt – hundreds if not thousands, and so far we have been very disappointed that he and his department have not been willing to meet with local groups.

We also publicly ask that our constituency MPs, including Minister of State for Children and Families Sarah Teather, Glenda Jackson, and Barry Gardiner demand that they do so.

Despite the disappointing result , we must not fail to recognise the excellent legal work done by our tireless team of solicitors led by John Halford, and barristers led by Helen Mountfield QC, who did an outstanding job in an extraordinarily short time frame. And most of all, we must thank all of our supporters and volunteers, our friends and neighbours, who have worked day and night to organise and staff fundraising events, canvass for donations, hand out flyers, write proposals and open up their hearts and lives to offer witness statements; and in a demonstration of concrete support in one of the poorest boroughs in London have raised nearly £30,000 to ensure our case was heard. This campaign has galvanised our communities in a way that none of us could have expected, and Brent Council would do well to call on that energy to preserve and strengthen our local resources, rather than weaken them.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused by us reducing your life chances....

I was taking a photograph of the sad sight of  the closed down Neasden Library this evening, usually a hive of activity on a Friday evening with a homework club in  session, students busy on computers and others borrowing books.

As I was taking the photographs a woman and her 15 year old daughter approached me.  They were coming to use the library and looked bewildered at finding it closed: "What has happened? Why is it closed?"

I explained Brent Council's decision to close half the borough's libraries. "But libraries are important. We need our libraries!"

I told them about the campaigns and the High Court decision.

"Are they mad? My daughter needs the library. I am on Income Support and we cannot afford the internet. Her homework says 'Use the internet to find out...'. We always come to this library. She needs it for books and her homework."

They examined the Council's notice.

"I can't send my daughter down to Willesden Green in the evening on her own. If I go with her I won't be able to pay the bus fare every night. I am on Income Support. She will get behind the other children who have internet at home."

I explained that previously the Council had understood these issues and that was why they had only recently invested money in refurbishing Neasden library and providing IT equipment and a homework club.

I told her that I had been one of the people campaigning and wrote this blog.

"You write down what I said. You tell them about me and my daughter."

So that is what I have done. I hope Brent Labour Party members think about about what she said at their Conference at Capital City Academy on Sunday afternoon. How many more people who don;'t read the local papers, or blogs such as this, will be standing bewildered in front of closed down libraries over the next few weeks?

Kensal Rise Defence Video

Video of Kensal Rise defence

Maggie Gee- people will not be fooled by Ann John

From Guardian Books

Kensal Rise library in north London. Photograph: Martin Godwin
Brent council has been trying to shut Kensal Rise library down since the 1980s – and now a depressing piece of legalese is trying to help them on their way. The judgment delivered at the narrow, cold high court showed only the huge gap between the arcana of the judicial, bureaucratic mindset and the facts as seen by ordinary people: the library that generations of people in Brent have used, loved and paid their rates for is being stolen from us by a combination of our own Labour council and a coalition government that sits on its hands. Mark Twain, the great American writer who opened the library over a century ago, must be turning in his grave at Councillor Ann John's laughable statement that she is "pleased" because now Brent can "push ahead with our exciting plans to improve Brent's library service and offer a 21st-century service for the benefit of all our residents". Why is she excited by the thought of closing down half the libraries in a poor borough at a time when London's unemployment has hit a new high? Ordinary people all over the country will not be fooled. They know that closing libraries means that overstretched parents and childminders will no longer have a safe, warm place where they can take their small children after school. They know that teenagers with nowhere to study at home because the television is always on, or there are too many people in too few rooms, will no longer be able to sit down in quiet corners of a book-lined room and do their homework. They know that people who have lost their jobs, or never had a job, will no longer be able to come to a place where they need feel no shame and look up courses where they can learn or clubs they can join. They know that newcomers to the country will no longer be able to come in off our cold streets and read newspapers and magazines to learn the language, or find the whereabouts of colleges, clinics and schools. If libraries are allowed to close without a fight, how long will that other service that was once the envy of the world, the NHS, still survive? Oh, and the books. The stories that help us understand each other, the non-fiction that gives us the tools to survive in the world, the picture books that help toddlers make sense of themselves – are they to be only for rich people now? Brent's Labour council should hang their heads in shame.

Library campaigners determined to appeal

The BBC quoted campaigner Margaret Bailey on the next steps:

Margaret Bailey, a spokesperson for the Brent Libraries SOS campaign, said: "We are obviously disappointed with the decision given by the judge today. We are determined to appeal."
She said: "We believe that there are important points of principle at stake which an appeal court will decide differently.

"Our campaign will redouble its efforts to expose the senselessness of Brent Council's decision to close half of its libraries.

"In the meantime, we demand that in light of the serious concerns raised by local residents, Brent will take the time before closing the doors of any library to properly consider the options proposed by local groups to preserve local library services, and open a dialogue with those groups to find constructive solutions for our communities.

"Brent Council has already spent over £70,000 of residents' money on this legal case and they should not waste any more money in pursuing a library closure policy that the vast majority of Brent residents oppose."

Paul Lorber, leader of the Liberal Democrats on the council, said: "We are determined to save our libraries in Brent irrespective of what the Labour administration is doing."

Shahrar Ali, Green Party GLA candidate for Brent and Harrow, said: "Let the People of Brent unite in their common endeavour to safeguard our community from this assault on our local libraries. We can despair, but we shall also regroup - with the same practical intelligence and determination we have already shown, to find a better way forward."

"This is a sad day for Brent; but also a day on which the Citizens of Brent who give a damn about lifelong education and protecting the vulnerable from abandonment should hold their heads up high. Just not in the High Court."
The Department for Culture Media and Sport said it was considering the judgement.

Brent Council: "Six libraries will not open again" but campaigner pledge to fight on

Brent Council has wasted no time! The Willesden and Kilburn Times reports that the council will close the six libraries threatened with closure immediately following the High Court decision:

Following Mr Justice Ouseley decision to dismiss a judicial review launched by campaigners challenging the proposals Brent Council revealed that Barham Park, Cricklewood, Kensal Rise, Neasden, Preston and Tokyngton library will never open their doors again.

Fiona Ledden, Brent Council’s director of legal services, said: “Following the decision from the High Court the six libraries in question will not open again.”

The  Evening Standard reports:

Campaigners were set to learn later today whether they will be given permission to appeal. In a statement issued by Brent SOS Libraries Campaign, campaigners said: "We are obviously disappointed with the decision given by the judge today.

"We will be consulting with our lawyers on our legal options. We are determined to appeal if allowed to do so. We believe there are important points of principle at stake which an Appeal Court will decide.

"Our campaign will redouble its efforts to expose the senselessness of Brent Council's decision to close half of its libraries."