Gazette, please keep up the good work with your Save Our Libraries campaign.

My heart sank when I read the quote from Sean Woodward, Hampshire County Council's executive member for Recreation and Heritage: “the requirement is to have at least one per district and we’re more than triple that.”

He must know that in fact the Public Libraries and Museum Act 1964 puts a duty on Hampshire County Council to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service to all persons.

Until recent years, Hampshire residents were fortunate to have just that. Now with endless austerity, the cuts that have already been made, including the loss of a much-loved mobile library service, make it seem that all we are being offered is a sham consultation.

I predict Chineham library will be “saved” as its inclusion in the list of 10 doomed libraries was bound to cause outrage, and although the case for keeping South Ham is certainly as strong, Sean Woodward’s comments make me feel its fate is already decided.

Perhaps your readers who use Whitchurch, Overton and Tadley Libraries should realise they will be next in any following series of cuts list if HCC is using his interpretation of HCC's legal duty.

We hear we cannot expect anything while social care has to take priority, although I read that the authority will be getting an extra £55 million to spend this coming year, and our council tax will increase substantially.

Perhaps Councillor Woodward would like to tell us the cost of the consultation that is taking place, with drop-in sessions and endless paper work to be analysed, not to mention staff time replying to queries from us council tax payers who, having analysed the pack and statistics used, can see numerous flaws in the rationale that is being used to support these draconian proposals.

In the meantime, please continue your campaign, and well done in highlighting inaccurate travel times, a major justification throughout the document, which are lazily based on Google Maps and make no allowance whatsoever for walking times and distance to bus stops at all.

A concerned Oakley resident and South Ham Library user