Campaigners have been in the High Court fighting plans by Surrey County Council (SCC) to remove paid staff from 10 libraries and replace them with volunteers.
The Surrey Library Action Movement (SLAM) lodged a legal action against SCC earlier this year over a potential "abuse of power" by the council and last month the High Court ruled a judicial review would be held into whether the council carried out a proper consultation process into the changes.
SCC has earmarked libraries across Surrey including Ewell Court, Stoneleigh and Tattenhams to be handed over to volunteers in a bid to cut costs, but maintained its intention all along was to keep all of Surrey’s 52 libraries open.
Following protests, SCC said it would put a paid member of staff in the libraries for 20 per cent of the opening hours, however campaigners have did not feel the offer went far enough and continued with legal action.
An injunction is currently in place ordering that the council should ‘take no irrevocable steps towards implementing the Community Partnered Libraries (CPLs)’ until a decision has been reached by the court.
The court hearing, held on Monday and Tuesday, concluded this afternoon with a decision now deferred until next week.
SLAM campaigners tweeting at the end of the hearing said it was "difficult to call" what the decision would be. Surrey County Council has confirmed it will be releasing a statement shortly.
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