This is a report of a meeting which took place in Dunchuch in March.
A meeting of over 100 angry residents packed into Dunchurch Infants School, just outside Rugby, to hear the chair and local Liberal Democrat parish councillor declare the only way to save the local library from closure was to staff it using volunteers. It seems the ‘big society’ agenda is even being pushed by coalition partners at local parish council level as well as nationally.
The angry meeting was told about budget cuts being made by the Tory controlled Warwickshire County Council which will result in 16 libraries being closed down in the county, including the local one in Dunchurch.
With a defeatist attitude the Liberal Democrat chair of the parish council, Robin Aird, declared to the meeting that there was no way the County Council would reverse these cuts and the only possible way to maintain a library in the village would be to run it as a ‘big society’ venture using local volunteers to replace the two women workers currently employed to run the service.
During the discussion some local residents, following Aird’s negative lead, said they would get involved in running the service. However, two of the local election candidates from Rugby TUSC made short interventions explaining that there are alternatives to cuts and firmly stated that it wasn’t acceptable to sack workers and replace them with community volunteers. We also pointed out that this is a weak coalition that can be forced into U turns, giving the example of the protests in the Forest of Dean which helped to force the coalition to reverse their decision to sell off the country’s woodlands.
Myself and Pete McLaren (TUSC candidate for Dunchurch in the coming local Borough elections) were the only people to receive a round of applause at the meeting. This clearly shows that where a lead is given and a fighting strategy to resist cuts is put forward people are determined and willing to fight back.
Clive Dunkley
Candidate – TUSC Candidate Brownsover South
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