As part of Friends of Lambeth Libraries I have launched this petition on their behalf to call on Lambeth Council to halt action on their "Culture 2020" plans and for the council to withdraw the proposals to close five of Lambeth’s libraries.

Replacing free Libraries with paid-for membership gyms is in no-ones interest. No child learnt to read in a gym, no older person found a friendly face to help with their information needs. We believe that closing libraries is a short-sighted and irresponsible plan; public libraries are an essential part of a functioning literate nation. This is an act of vandalism against the community, signalling the death of hope that anything can ever get better. Libraries change lives. Libraries are more than a material resource; they are the commitment of our community to its future. They express a faith in the power of shared imagination.

Three of the libraries will become mini-gyms. A bookshelf in a gym is not a library.

There will be no staff to hold story and rhyme times, reading groups, homework clubs or offer advice on applying for jobs and benefits. Lambeth won’t only lose half its libraries. We will lose our dementia groups, our film clubs, our English conversation groups, our chess clubs, our coders clubs, our access to advice and information, our safe and neutral spaces for children to study. Lambeth Council is ripping the heart out of our communities.

We call on Lambeth Council to halt their action immediately before it is irreversible.

Read more about this on the Friends of Lambeth Libraries Website