A proposed sell-off of Kent’s libraries has provoked a massive public outcry with a series of planned protests in the coming weeks.

It emerged last week that Kent County Council (KCC), which runs the library service, will unveil plans to put around one-third of its 99 buildings up for sale.

KCC is under financial pressure to make tens of millions of pounds of savings in the face of reduced government funding and soaring costs.

The council’s deputy leader Cllr Peter Oakford told members last week that the authority “has far too many libraries”.

But the news, broken by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), prompted an immediate campaign by the Green Party to oppose the proposals.

The party’s prospective parliamentary candidate Hannah Temple will lead a “read-in” demonstration outside County Hall in Maidstone on February 19 starting at 8.30am. There will also be a number of localised protests at Maidstone, Wye, Dartford and Swale as well as others yet to be announced for February 17 and 18.

Senior KCC figures hope parish councils or local community bodies will buy the buildings but Cllr Oakford warned that no one will be “gifted” them.

It is not yet known how much money can be realised or saved by disposing of the buildings.

The candidate for the general election in the Faversham and Mid Kent constituency said: “I am horrified to hear of Kent County Council’s proposals to close up to a third of libraries across Kent.

“Libraries are essential services that allow all of us, no matter our background or level of income, to access information and learn about the world.

“They are the life-blood of many communities, important symbols of the things we value and some of the only remaining truly public spaces.

“This is not only about our libraries but about the consistent and devastating hollowing-out of our essential public services. This has gone much too far and must be stopped.”

Thanet Labour county councillor Barry Lewis said: “We should be proud that we have more libraries than any other county in the country and should be increasing their use rather than talk about selling them or closing them.”

‘People of all ages use the service and I can only expect one hell of a rumpus over this...’

The Liberal Democrats at County Hall were equally aghast at the sell-off plans.

Cllr Antony Hook, leader of the Liberal Democrat on KCC said: “Libraries are essential. Kent's libraries are used by thousands of people every week. Taking library services away will increase people's cost of living further.”

Maidstone borough councillor David Naghi said: “Everyone knows that KCC is under pressure and that every avenue of expenditure has to be examined - but libraries? No way.

“Local libraries are so vital to older people who do not have access to the internet or cannot afford it. People of all ages use the service and I can only expect one hell of a rumpus over this, from all ends of the political spectrum. It’s an outrageous idea.”

Lenham Parish Council chairman John Britt warned: “First you remove the community wardens (the number will be halved by April), then youth services and now libraries. Eventually, the entire social fabric supporting potentially vulnerable people will collapse like the Jenga stack when too many blocks are removed.”

Last week, Cllr Oakford told members: “I think we’re all aware that Kent has far too many libraries. We have more libraries per head than any other organisation or local authority in the country, we currently have 99 libraries.

“The administration will bring a proposal forward sometime this year to see where libraries can be sold or disposed of to local communities such as parish councils, to other organisations if we were to deem that we would want to carry on running them as a library and perhaps if a parish wanted to keep a library in their area.

“The thing that we will not be doing is gifting these buildings, and when this has happened in the past, KCC has passed a building over to a local parish council as an example perhaps but has retained the liability for that building, so we’ve had to carry on paying the maintenance etc. this is something we can no longer afford to do.”

Hannah Temple’s petition against the sell-off can be reached at https://chng.it/Zkjt9WqkGp

A Facebook page has also been started at https://fb.me/e/1aWDgFjSn