Actors and writers join forces to fight library closures (CORRECTED)

CORRECTION (PUBLISHED 4 FEBRUARY 1993) APPENDED TO THIS ARTICLE

BERYL BAINBRIDGE, Dame Judi Dench, Melvyn Bragg and other leading arts figures have joined a campaign to stop the closure of six out of twelve branch libraries by Camden council in north London.

Melvyn Bragg, the television presenter and novelist, said having to defend libraries in 1993 'will be looked back on as a kind of madness'.

He said that apart from people who could not afford to buy books or newspapers, 'how about those who seek knowledge? How about them? They could be quite useful in the future.'

Fay Weldon, the novelist, said: 'It just makes you wonder where the money goes, where your poll tax goes, why we're paying so much. How much does it cost to shut (the libraries) down? How much will it cost to keep staff in unemployment benefit?'

The council was discussing a document presented last night by the director of its leisure services. The document suggests closing libraries in Chalk Farm, Hampstead Heath, Belsize Park, Regent's Park, Kilburn and Highgate to achieve cuts in expenditure.

The closure plan would represent a saving of pounds 460,000.

Ms Bainbridge, the novelist, who is a keen supporter of the campaigners, said: 'I'm a cynic. I'm sure they'll close the libraries. It's ridiculous.' And Lee Montague, the actor, said: 'I do believe if anything is to be saved, libraries should come pretty near the top of the list. The value of the written word is being destroyed.'

The public gallery was packed with those who went to register disapproval and passions ran high as campaigners heckled and applauded the speakers.

When a Labour councillor warned that this was a contingency package in the event of a pounds 1.2m deficit projected for leisure services this financial year, one woman called out: 'Close the Camden Citizen', the council's free paper. When another Labour councillor proposed that library users should help the situation by donating books, a man shouted: 'We do, but you sell them off.' Ms Bainbridge has found library books thrown out in skips.

In a reversal of expected roles Flick Rea, a Conservative councillor, proposed that libraries should not be closed and this was defeated by Labour members.

The subject is not closed. A spokeswoman for the campaigners said: 'We have had unofficial comments from within the council that there is a strong possibility of acceptance.'

Despite persistent requests, the campaigners have been unable to discover what the council intends to do with the Keats archive, which it supports, and the collection of illustrations and letters of Kate Greenaway, the illustrator of children's books.

The campaigners were dismayed to hear that a councillor had questioned whether Camden should be supporting the Keats archive: he thought it was too elitist for most of the local community, and 'you need to read and write to enjoy it'.

CORRECTION

Yesterday's report on a campaign to stop Camden council in north London closing six out of 12 libraries should have described Flick Rea as leader of the Liberal Democrats, not as a Conservative councillor.