Woking Town Square Hosts Library Protest

With a backdrop of the new Town Centre development, a protest took place outside Woking Library on Saturday to highlight the axing of local and mobile libraries from places such as Byfleet and Knaphill.

Representatives spoke about the impact it would have on those who rely on libraries for much more than just borrowing books, if what is considered to be an essential service by so many is axed. 

Reactions to the issue from passers by were mixed. A group of young men speculated about how Woking Library would look as a night club, a family with teenage children who passed were trying to convince them that it wasn't boring, not everyone had access to the internet in every room and did they remember how much they enjoyed storytime only a few years before. The protest provoked mixed reactions from Councillors on Twitter, with Cllr Carl Thomson (Con Mt Hermon) expressing sympathy but blaming the cuts on the 'socialist spending policies of Unison' whilst Cllr Ann-Marie Barker (LibDem Horsell West) tweeted that 'Tories talk about broken society but (are) happy to cut library funding which gives access to knowledge whilst handing back money on council tax'

Woking Library staff were unable to comment.