1. Our library is a lifeline for many of our older and/or isolated
residents for whom reading is one of the few leisure activities
they can still enjoy during the current pandemic.
2. Our library is an invaluable resource for parents and carers who have children who are learning to read, completing their homework or reading for leisure. The expense of buying new books is often prohibitive, accessing second hand books is difficult when our local Oxfam is closed and parents/carers might prefer for their children to be reading paper books rather than electronic versions due to the additional screen time that requires.
3. Our next closest library is approx. 8 miles away in a different district and encourages people to leave an otherwise fairly secluded village and travel to an area with much higher rates of Coronavirus
4. Our library provides essential services to our community which residents would suffer without so we need to keep the library functioning for future community resilience.
5. 27 other libraries across Kent have remained open throughout the pandemic so it is clear that the select and collect service is deemed to be Covid-safe.
6. Kent County Council have already announced that they may be facing the biggest spending cut in 10 years and that there may be "difficult decisions" to make regarding the services they provide. The closure of New Ash Green library would have an awful impact on the community. New Ash Green is a self sufficient village in many ways and the provision of essential services such as the library is what enables this lifestyle.
7. In addition to the pandemic guidelines, environmental factors will also impact the necessity for small towns and villages to become more self sufficient in the future so provision of essential services should be considered differently for rural areas where the travel aspect is so much greater if residents have to travel to another town or village.
The best way to GUARANTEE we still have our library when we are
able to browse it safely again is to show that we are already
SUFFERING without it and NEED it even for the limited SELECT &
COLLECT service. So let's speak up now and PROTECT New Ash Green
library.
Please sign this petition to ask Kent County Council to start a
select and collect service at New Ash Green before it is deemed
unnecessary and closed permanently to save the council money.
This ePetition ran from 19/01/2021 to 06/04/2021 and has now finished.
130 people signed this ePetition.