July 9, 2014 9.03 pm This story is over 116 months old

Lincolnshire libraries judicial review wrapped up

Review over: Campaigners against cuts to libraries services had their second and final day at High Court for the judicial review against Lincolnshire County Council.
Campaigners with their London train tickets ahead of the Lincolnshire libraries judicial review. Photo: Save Lincolnshire Libraries

Campaigners against cuts to Lincolnshire libraries services have appeared at the High Court in London for the second and final day of a judicial review into the case against Lincolnshire County Council.

As previously reported, the first day on July 8 was concluded with campaigners feeling “optimistic” about their case.

During day 2 in court, the judge listened to legal representatives from the County Council, including questions over library service obligations to provide access to computers and the internet.

The council’s representative also said they had been planning the cuts since 2010.

Barrister on behalf of case instigator Simon Draper, David Lawson, continued to present a list of groups that would be affected by the £2 million worth of cuts.

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The two-day review was concluded with the judge stating that a decision is expected to be made by the end of the month.

Councillor Nick Worth, Executive Member for Libraries, said: “We’ve made our case as best we can, and feel that we’ve answered all the points raised by the campaigners.

“Before making our decision, we carried out extensive consultation and thoroughly considered the impact on our residents, and hopefully we’ve been able to demonstrate that to the court.

“However, it is now up to the judge to decide whether our decision was taken in a legal and proper manner.”

Simon Draper said: “We started the 1st day thinking we had a 50/50 chance at winning. By lunch that had risen to 60/40 and by today, with the judge agreeing that we had made our point on 2 of the 4 grounds, we are hoping we have a much better chance.

“We learned that the cuts to the libraries was being planned from before 2009, but throughout the election they was denying the cuts.

“Also, Greenwich Leisure, a non-profit Org Bid, was a lot stronger then we was led to believe.”