Hundreds of people sign petition opposing closure of Comrie Library

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A campaign to save a closure-threatened Perthshire library has attracted more than 500 signatures opposing the move.

Comrie Library is among seven PKC libraries whose future is in doubt following a decision by councillors to spend £8.7m on a new community campus in Pitlochry, relocating its library to Pitlochry High School.

Other libraries include Alyth, Auchterarder, Birnam, North Inch (Perth), Scone and Coupar Angus.

A meeting held in Comrie’s White Church last week on the matter, hosted by Comrie Community Council, was attended by around 100 people as well as representatives of Culture Perth and Kinross.

Campaigners have also organised protests in their fight for a council U-turn, with residents holding demonstrations outside Birnam Library in Dunkeld.

A further protest will be held this weekend at Scone Library.

Barbara Murray of the Save Comrie Library group said following the meeting: “We made our point that we do not want our library to close.

“A library’s value cannot be assessed by how much it costs to run or quantified by books borrowed or footfall.

“The social benefits to our community far outweigh the costs to Perth and Kinross Council.

“We asked Culture Perth and Kinross a lot of questions at the meeting, many of which they were not able to answer.

“We now have meetings with MSPs. Some of whom have already written to CPK and PKC to voice their concern.

“We estimate that there were about 90 to 100 Comrie residents in attendance at the meeting.

“We currently have a paper petition, but we will soon have an online one as well.

“In just one week we have 512 signatures on the paper petition.”

A Culture Perth and Kinross spokesperson said this week: “A number of Culture Perth and Kinross staff attended the meeting about Comrie Library earlier this week, and it was heartening to see how passionate the community is about their local library.

“We will do everything we can to maintain as much access to library services as possible, whilst addressing the significant financial savings we are required to make.

“To keep delivering services, we are exploring various options, such as community-led models, click-and-collect services, and expanded mobile library activities.

“Our commitment is to maintain as many library services as possible for Comrie and other communities across Perth and Kinross, even within these challenging financial times.”

■ Other Perthshire meetings on library closures set to take place are:

Wednesday, November 6 – Auchterarder. Aytoun Hall at 6.30pm; Tuesday, November 12 – Scone, Robert Douglas Institute at 6.30pm; Wednesday, November 13 – Alyth. Ogilvie Room at 6.30pm.

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