Ledbury Portal Community Forum

Not content on just becoming cafes, Margaret Hodge (Arts Minister) has put forward the suggestion that libraries should become book shops too. That'll please Ledbury's three bookshops, just as Ledbury's cafes are chuffed to pieces about the new library becoming a cafe - an Internet Cafe.

What was that we were told in public by Mr Payne (Ledbury Area Development Trust) during the First Phase of these new library plans - the new library will not compete with existing Ledbury businesses. Bah Humbug! Herefordshire Council have since told me Mr Payne had no authority to say such a thing.

Anyway, with libraries in the UK suffering a 41% drop in borrowing over the last 10 years (Guardian 2/12/09) they have to do something to avoid becoming 'a curiosity of history' [Hodge]. So, build em bigger, build em better.

Don't get me wrong; I support and use libraries, probably more than most people. I supported the new library firstly moving to the Youth Club and then after that fell through I supported it moving to the Master's House. That was the plan, wasn't it? But now it's a totally new build, taking up car parking spaces and planning to take custom away from existing business.

This appears to be what Herefordshire Council does. Twist! People in Ledbury have been misled and lied to during the planning phases, whether they realise it or not or care or not.