Mobile library service maybe axed in bid to save £157m

Derbyshire’s mobile library service – which last year loaned 719,000 titles – could be scrapped under council cost-saving measures.

The £720,000 service – which accounts for 17 per cent of all library issues – is under threat as part of Derbyshire County Council’s bid to save £157 million in five years.

Following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the public are invited to have their say on proposals which could include running a reduced service, or scrapping it altogether.

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Cabinet Member for health and communities, Cllr Dave Allen said: “We are facing extraordinary and unprecedented budget pressures with cuts of £157m over five years so it is inevitable that many of our services, including libraries, will be subject to review.

“Sadly we have no alternative but to review services − these are savings the council has to make and if we don’t face these challenges now we will be storing up significant problems for the future.”

Bridget Hanley, headteacher of Litton Primary School – which is visited by the library, said: “For little villages like ours it’s a fantastic resource. For some children, it is the only access to a library they have.

“It gives fair access to all. I very much support the mobile library.”