On the 11 January, I joined protestors from ‘Save Our Rural Libraries’ outside the Perth Museum who were demonstrating against the closures of several rural libraries across the region.
Readers will already be aware of the public outcry directed at Culture Perth and Kinross – who oversee cultural services on behalf of Perth and Kinross Council – after they quietly decided to close five rural libraries including Comrie, Auchterarder, Alyth, Scone and Birnam.
The ‘Save Our Rural Libraries’ group is an amalgamation of the five respective local campaign groups all of which have done an excellent job in raising the profile of this issue and garnering the support of MSPs and local councillors.
Over the last few months, I have received a very sizeable number of emails from constituents about this issue. I was therefore not surprised at all that over 300 people turned out to protest in Perth despite the freezing conditions.
It is frustrating that a full public consultation process was not undertaken because that would have demonstrated the strength of feeling within our rural communities without this campaign being necessary. It was obvious to all looking at the crowd on the Saturday how much this issue transcends age demographics as around half of attendees were parents with young children. This was also reflected in my correspondence from constituents which ranged considerably between young people, parents, and pensioners.
I would like to thank all those who made impassioned speeches on the proposals, particularly the young people who took to the stage to have their say on the importance of local libraries. It was reiterated that libraries are crucial for learning and tackling inequalities, but also as important community social hubs in isolated areas. The alternative suggestions given by Culture Perth and Kinross were unacceptable and the transport infrastructure is not in place to support it anyway – in some cases it would mean older people having to walk for miles from the nearest bus stop to reach their next closest library.
I will continue to work with the ‘Save Our Rural Libraries’ group closely to put pressure on Perth and Kinross Council to deliver the necessary funding required to save these popular local libraries.
