MP takes his library battle to Commons

Mr Maynard raised the plight of Thornton and Cleveleys libraries in the Queen’s Speech Debate.

The Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP is among those opposed to proposals by Lancashire County Council to shut the two libraries, along with more than 200 other properties across the county, as part of a £200m cost-cutting exercise.

In Wyre, Conservative councillors have joined forced to put forward a proposal
to take control of the libraries through a not-for-profit 
company and are calling for talks to take place over the plan.

During his nine-minute speech, Mr Maynard described the plan to close the libraries to chamber of the House of Commons and slammed Lancashire’s refusal to ‘sit down and listen’ to the not-for-profit proposal.

And he raised in the House the possibility of a public inquiry should Lancashire press on with its plans, claiming the authority could breach the terms of the 1964 Libraries Act.

Mr Maynard said: “I took the opportunity to contribution to the Queen’s Speech Debate in Parliament to raise the very concerning matter of threatened library closures in my constituency.

“It concerns me as I believe that Lancashire is failing in its legal duty and being unfair to my constituents to make a political point ahead of elections next year.

“In my mind Lancashire has failed to conduct an adequate survey of users in order to fully understand what a comprehensive service would look like. “

“All we need now is for Labour bosses at County Hall to sit down and discuss the process of moving forward.”