Short-sighted library plans

First the council imposes the craziest new library opening hours: “Hey, chaps, let’s make them as inconvenient as possible then no one will go in.”

That didn’t work. Those bloody-minded book-fiends had the cheek to pile into the libraries in even great numbers. What to do? Ah, yes – let’s close them down. That’ll show ’em.

Last week I was hunting down books by my new favourite author (Mark Billingham, I can recommend him) and copies were on the shelf in Willingdon, Polegate, Langney and Pevensey Bay.

But it was a bittersweet tour. The libraries were all packed and buzzing, the staff knowledgeable, charming and helpful. And all under sentence of death.

But what is so extra short-sighted about these closures is they will add to the general run-down atmosphere that pervades Eastbourne, ‘Beacon’ centre or not. More empty shops. More metal shutters. More sites left to rot.

Yet all the council says is those words soon to be rarely heard around town: “Quiet, please.”