CHILDREN have added their voices to a campaign to retain local authority funding for their library.

A delegation objecting to proposals to turn Stokesley Library into a centre run solely by volunteers, handed in a petition to North Yorkshire County Council on Monday (February 9).

The local authority has just finished a three-month consultation on plans to turn libraries at Stokesley, Bedale, Thirsk, Colburn and Leyburn into community-run centres.

In Stokesley a campaign has been launched calling for their library to become a hybrid - where the authority meets the cost of the premises and one paid member of staff .

The campaign has been backed by Stokesley School and Stokesley Primary School.

Clare Williams, a teaching assistant at the primary, joined the delegation who handed over a petition of more than 1,200 names, as well as 425 written objections at County Hall in Northallerton.

She had gathered together 135 written statements from children on what they thought about the library.

Eileen Driver, from the Save Stokesley Library Campaign’s steering group, said the county council’s figures showed the largest group of users of the library were the under-24s, closely followed by the 25 to 54 age group, with the smallest demographic using the library the over-55s. The petition was accepted by deputy leader of North Yorkshire County Councillor Carl Les.

Julie Blaisdale, assistant director for library and community services? said they had received about 7,500 online responses to the proposed changes to libraries in North Yorkshire and several petitions.

She added: “We have at least one month, or slightly longer, to sift through all the responses and look at everything that people have said. We will be putting quite a lengthy report together for the county council’s executive, including recommendations.”