Your say / libraries
‘Closing libraries will only lead to communities paying the price’
Libraries matter. A place of sanctuary. A warm space for support. A base where communities can come together.
Corridors of knowledge where we can learn about our past: locally, nationally or even across the world.
Settings where we can reconnect with our history, reminding ourselves of why we do what we do. A backdrop where we can learn that hate and division will never win.
Where current and future generations can find hope that we are not doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
A hub of many stories, of those that stood up to be counted and fought for what they believed in, even when all seemed lost.
In a library, the realms of possibilities are endless, allowing us to lose ourselves in worlds away from our own realities.
Through a wardrobe where a wonderland awaits and opportunity knows no bounds. A den for brave adventurers planning journeys like Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf.
When I was a young boy, I regularly visited the local library with my mum. I always looked forward to it, thinking about which books I may be able to borrow and exploring the wonders that lay within pages of carefully crafted ideas.
I am forever grateful to authors who have been so generous in allowing others to be part of the worlds they created.
Libraries have been a big part of my journey ever since. I have always enjoyed reading. The Goosebumps books in particular were a big part of my childhood. Underrated in my view, and a genuine staple of 90s British culture.
If you never got the chance, reading books that gave you options on how the story played out, like Goosebumps, were full of twists and turns.
Turn to page 150 to jump out the window to escape the dogs hurtling towards you, or page 79 to throw a juicy steak towards them in the hope that it will be a more appetising snack.
An adventure where the reader decides the outcome and can see the impact of their choices.
I have such fond memories of these books, as my school library was a place of sanctuary. A space where I could escape the chaos of who was this week’s big cheese in the playground and the chest-puffing that came with it. Pick up a book and absorb in the world within.
Westbury Library is one of 26 libraries run by Bristol City Council – photo: Betty Woolerton
I welcome the government’s commitment to ensure that every primary school in England will have a library by 2029, aiming to enhance children’s literacy and access to reading materials.
That opportunity in school is vital – reading makes a big impression on you. I still have the bookmark given to me when I was looking for new books to read, and picked up copies of childhood favourites.
When I was little, I may not have fully realised the importance of why these spaces matter. Now, I know we must do all we can to ensure we have that conversation and keep them relevant in the changing world around us.
They are spaces we should fiercely guard, no less vociferously than Smaug and his pile of gold in The Lonely Mountain of Erebor.
We should also ensure, though, that they don’t become rarely visited locations by a small number of brave adventurers, leaving the many gems to only be experienced by one greedy dragon.
The impact of 14 years of devastating Tory austerity on public services across the UK has much to answer for.
Libraries shut across the country, as part of a rationalisation of public services that has wrought destruction on communities everywhere, contributing to the division society faces today.
As our services have disintegrated, people look for someone to blame for changes, turning to the populists who offer easy answers with no grasp on the realities facing the everyday lives of those who are struggling to get by.
I don’t begrudge the difficult decisions local leaders had to take. As far back as 2017, there were no easy answers. In Bristol, Labour did all it could to make ends meet.
At the point we left office in May 2024, we had delivered eight balanced budgets, and we still had 27 libraries in the city – having kept them all open. A proud achievement and not one that had been easy to accomplish.
There were no easy decisions – the trade-off for keeping them all open was reducing the operating hours of some libraries.
However, by retaining the service and the buildings they operate from, we can increase the opening hours when financial circumstances allow it.
We knew that once the building’s gone, it’s gone for good. Only by a clear commitment to keep all libraries open will the space be created for a conversation on building a service that is fit for the future.
Central Library was designed to complement the neighbouring abbey gatehouse – photo: Martin Booth
Shutting the libraries and selling those buildings off, as the Green-led council refuses to rule out, will only lead to communities paying the price.
Council chiefs have alluded to libraries with the fewest visitors, those in some of our more deprived areas, will be first on the chopping block.
Others to be targeted may include libraries situated in a building where they can be sold for a quick buck to fund the latest Green-led council’s pet project, or perhaps another round of letters to cover off the latest error in the council tax bill.
The council’s plan to close libraries is all the more flawed considering the Labour government is injecting money back into local government.
In Bristol, the council saw an increase of £27m for 2025/26 above what it had anticipated.
The Green and Liberal Democrat administration that was looking to take out over £2m of the library budget in January could have seen up to 19 libraries close. They can thank the government for bailing them out of that one.
Despite the government increasing funding, the council is still refusing to rule out any closures – perhaps due to financial mismanagement or looking to free up cash to spend on even more executive directors (whose total salary costs have almost doubled since the Greens took office).
We must ensure that the decisions we take today do not take away opportunities from our children tomorrow, in the name of political ideology and an inability to explore the realms of what can happen, where we can do things differently.
Closing libraries would be a mistake; one that cannot be undone.
Let’s not deny access to those who will inherit the consequences of the ‘easy decision’, ensuring that, like I was able to do with my mum, we protect the spaces that will serve to be a treasure chest of possibilities for the many who need to know that a better tomorrow can happen.
If access to the many wonders of the stories we tell each other in my childhood taught me one thing, it is this: we should never give up on the dreams of a better future.
For my daughters and the children across our city, we must keep that possibility alive.
This is an opinion piece by Tom Renhard, Labour councillor for Horfield
Main photo: Bristol Labour
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