Residents in Wye fear their community could be torn apart if their library was to close.
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00:00 A small, tight-knit community, at its centre, the village library.
00:05 Why locals believe more than 60 people use this daily.
00:09 But could this service be under threat?
00:12 Last week, Kent County Council's Deputy Leader made this remark.
00:18 We have more libraries per head than any other organisation, local authority in the country.
00:25 We currently have 99 libraries.
00:27 We are looking at that and the administration will bring a proposal forward sometime this year
00:33 to see where libraries can be sold.
00:37 Today, the council has released a statement emphasising there are no current plans,
00:43 but haven't ruled out future closures, leading to petitions to save libraries across the county.
00:51 I started it on Sunday, today is Tuesday and there are already 350 signatures on that petition
01:00 and it's building all the time.
01:02 So you can see how strongly people feel about their library and why.
01:08 It's at libraries where young people often fall in love with books.
01:13 If your child becomes a happy, confident, keen reader,
01:16 they could be getting through a book a week, or two books a week, or five books a week,
01:20 but families can't afford to be buying that amount of books.
01:23 I mean, it's brilliant, that's what we want,
01:25 but families can't afford to be buying books in that volume.
01:29 And why is a rural community?
01:31 Many living here have mobility issues or are reliant on public transport.
01:37 If the library closed, they'd have to turn to buses,
01:40 but last year the number of services were reduced.
01:43 All of us are old, very few of us drive, and it's essential that the library is open.
01:49 Why? Because we use it to get our books every month.
01:52 There are several book clubs in Wye and they also are dependent on the library.
01:57 If the library were to close, our book club would have to close as well
02:01 because we would not be able to go to Ashford every time to get the books.
02:05 And it's particularly important that we keep it now because we've lost so much public space.
02:11 So we are desperate for community space and the library is our last hope for the village.
02:18 These locals clearly love their libraries, but it's no secret that KCC needs to save money.