Mirfield people could take over library if council pushes ahead with closure plan

The meeting was called after Kirklees mooted plans to close every library in the borough – except for Huddersfield and Dewsbury – to cut costs.

Kirklees’ chief librarian Carol Stump told the meeting that 95,868 books had been issued in the last year, making Mirfield Library the fifth busiest in Kirklees for issues. She also said the library cost around £120,000 per year to run.

When Kirklees councillor Kath Taylor (Con, Mirf) asked the meeting of around 40 people who would be willing to volunteer to keep the library open, around half said they would.

Mirfield town councillor James Taylor said: “It was a decent meeting – proper community spirit. It wasn’t political, no one was blaming Kirklees or the coalition. Everybody was there because they had an interest in the library and wanted to do something about it.

“Carol Stump also assured us that she had got the library budget until 2017, so I am under the impression that we’ve got about two-and-a-half years to start planning stuff.”