Well done Shirley Burnham for her library letter of 11 March. I have written to Councillor Williams twice in February and no reply to date and to Leah Bevan of the library service on 24 February and no reply to date, with regard to the destruction of our libraries.

The council has a policy that a library may not open with only one person in the building, so what do the council do? They spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on machines to replace library staff. So, where there were two staff members, there is now only one.

Now they have a ‘survey’ suggesting how wonderful it would be to put libraries in another building. Would that be the lavatories at GWH or a kiosk in Tesco? Or let’s say the Arts Centre in Old Town?

This survey is an insult to all council tax payers. It’s the council who have created this monster so if it’s the Arts Centre people we should be talking to about our books it won’t be long before it’s the lavatory attendant and shelf stacker, as clearly it’s not the council’s doing or making!

They are in fact awash with money at all levels; there is no lack of money. However, there is very bad management resulting in spending money in the wrong places.

I would like to thank Shirley Burnham for showing up the sheer arrogance of this council who make decisions and then when questioned they say “nothing to do with us, talk to the Arts Centre”.

P.S. Liden Library was closed the other morning, with a sign saying ‘Staff Sickness’. So much for hundreds of thousands of pounds on machines!

Arthur Bennett, Thirlmere, Swindon