Petitions to Save Suffolk Libraries with more than 19 000 signatures handed to Suffolk CC

Me handing a petition to Cllr Judy Terry

Petitions from libraries across Suffolk with more than 19 000 signatures were handed in to Cllr Judy Terry, Portfolio Holder for Libraries at Endeavour House this morning.

More than 20 representatives from libraries across Suffolk together with opposition councillors from both the Lib Dem and Labour groups converged on Endeavour House to hand in the petitions and to send a strong message to Suffolk County Council as the library consultation comes to an end.

Cllr Judy Terry seemed unwilling to come and receive the petitions at first but after chants of "Judy Terry Come on Down" and a trip to Reception she eventually appeared. As you can see from the video (on way) she did seem to be indicating that the strength of feeling had been acknowledged and that "we would be surprised" at what their plans are. She struggled to answer the questions put by protesters eventually telling Cllr Kathy Pollard (Lib Dem Group Leader) and the protesters in a patronising way that we "didn't understand" their plans which was met with derision from those present!

This table shows the petitions handed in:

	Paper	Online	Total
Aldeburgh	1200		1200
ALL Libraries		722	722
Bungay	1202	56	1258
Debenham	828	149	977
Hadleigh	59		59
Ipswich County	3945		3945
Ipswich Labour	1600		1600
Kesgrave	45	265	310
Leiston	759	181	940
Oulton Broad	1229	22	1251
Rosehill	3128	469	3597
Saxmundham	1703	147	1850
Stradbroke	700	100	800
Woodbridge	578		578
TOTAL	16976	2111	19087

Petitions in italics previously handed in but representatives at handover

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

UPDATE 1425 values altered to include missed out Online petitions from Rosehill and split between Hadleigh and Ipswich Central petitions