ALL seven of Moray's libraries will remain open after weeks of uncertainty.
Following a consultation from the Tory-run council, seven Moray libraries were set to close including those in Cullen, Keith, Burghead, Dufftown, Tomintoul, Lossiemouth, and Fochabers.
On Monday, December 9, it was announced that the libraries will remain open following public pressure on Moray Council.
A press release from the Scottish Tories said that plans for the closures “will no longer be taken forward” and are "no longer on the table".
“The Moray libraries are not going to close, it is absolutely brilliant,” said Vivien Hendry from a group who ran a campaign to save the spaces, called Save Moray Libraries.
Hendry said that Moray is a "rural area" frequently isolated by snow, and in some places, there are only three buses available for the whole week.
Closing seven libraries out of the 11 in service in Moray would have left only four working libraries for a rural region.
“It is a really great thing that our local councillors have actually listened to what the public in Moray is actually saying,” said Frankie Barton, campaigner for Save Dufftown Library.
“Wherever you live in Moray you still will have access to a library.”
Hendry and Barton hope this event will help Holyrood understand that libraries are essential to Scotland.
Richard Lochhead MSP for the Moray region said: “It is testament to the strong campaigns run in local communities that have forced the ruling Tory administration into backtracking on their plans to shut libraries in communities across Moray.
“The Scottish Government increased funding for local councils by more than £1bn in the Budget last week, to ensure that valued local services like libraries were protected, and I am glad to see these proposals taken off the table.”
Moray Conservatives first announced the news, ahead of the Moray Council.
Lochhead hopes that this announcement by the Conservatives instead of the local authority does not mean that the council “put politics before informing the librarians that their jobs are safe and that libraries will be remaining open”.
