Sir, – Last week the D&S reported North Yorkshire County Coun Gerald Dadd as advising residents of his Thirsk constituency to be prepared to campaign to prevent their local library being closed.

I would go further and urge every resident who regards their library as important to themselves, their family or their community to campaign that North Yorkshire County Council should reconsider its decision to close 24 libraries and take all the mobile libraries bar one off the road.

Of course, I do not want our roads to go un-mended, our schoolchildren or customers of our social services to suffer as a result of protecting library spending. But surely other savings could be found.

For example I understand the council will be subsiding free bus journeys for the over-60s, including myself, to the tune of £5m per year and that many of the journeys will be taken by visitors to our county. Running the library service costs £7.5m each year and if the present proposal to remove £2.3m over the next two years is carried out I cannot see that the service would ever recover.

Consultation forms can be found at every library and on the council web site at north yorks.gov.uk/libraryconsultation and I really would ask every concerned resident to fill one in.

Or better still to contact Coun John Weighell, leader of the council, Coun Chris Metcalfe executive member with responsibility for libraries, or their local councillor by letter or email explaining why their library is important, and how alternative savings might be made. I feel certain your readers will have many excellent suggestions.

ROSEMARY BULLIMORE Sowerby, Thirsk.