Libraries may shut in wave of cuts
Author: Daily Telegraph - Feb 9, 2010
The Government believes that the spread of the internet and other social changes may mean that councils should be free to close libraries.
Under 50-year-old laws, local councils currently have a legal obligation to provide comprehensive library services.
Ministers are currently reviewing this law and if it is scrapped, hundreds of libraries could be forced to close.
Local authorities are braced for years of budget cuts as Whitehall cuts funding to reduce Government borrowing. Libraries account for more expenditure than other cultural or sporting projects funded by local councils.
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