Public votes to keep library in the centre of Church Stretton

The ballot – which was run by voters placing screws in a choice of containers – showed 167 votes in favour of keeping the library where it is, and no votes for moving it to the outskirts of town.

Six volunteers from the local Library Support Group staffed a stall at last week’s Church Stretton market on Thursday 11 December.

They intended to bring the library controversy to the attention of as many people as possible, and to invite local people to vote for or against the proposal to move the library to the outskirts of town. Following an ancient voting method, voters expressed their preference by each picking up a screw and putting it into one of two containers:

- Container 1 was for those voting to keep the library at the heart of Church Stretton
- Container 2 was for those voting to move the library out of town to the site of the school on Shrewsbury Road

At the end of the day there were 167 screws in container 1 and none in container 2.

Commenting on the “overwhelming amount of support for keeping the library at its current site” and on the many conversations held that day, Felicity Thomas, a spokesperson for the Church Stretton Library Support Group, said:

“We were not at all surprised by the overwhelming level of support for the library on its present site though we were surprised that many did not even know this had been proposed. The proposal to move the library is so deeply flawed it should be withdrawn with immediate effect.

“The final result shows that where Church Stretton library is concerned, Shropshire Council is missing quite a few screws.”