Labour councillors and the local MP have sought to dismiss the threat to the library. Yet the facts are there in black and white: the “Building operates well as a library however its location is not ideal and suffers from low service numbers, high maintenance and high running costs. High running costs and poor location suggest this facility should be closed and relocated to Herne Hill. This property would be ideal for sale for a private residential flat conversion.”

The report that Labour councillors did not want you to see can be viewed on the Council’s own website (Please click here to view the details on page 232)

In their hasty denials local Labour councillors make no reference to this document. More importantly, they make no commitment to maintain the Carnegie Library in its current grade II listed building. It is clear that Labour councillors were going to consider selling off the existing library and building another one “somewhere” in Herne Hill.

Instead they have chosen to make snide remarks about the Conservatives rather than addressing the legitimate concerns of local residents in response to this document. Local residents are fully aware that this is not the first time Labour has wanted to close the Carnegie Library.

Andrew Carnegie established the library in its current building for the benefit of the whole of the community and not as an opportunity for property developers.

Herne Hill’s Labour councillors and MP did not tell residents about these plans until Conservatives unearthed them in the footnotes of a document’s huge appendices.

We want our Library where it is now, lending books and properly funded. We need some straight answers and clear commitments from the Labour councillors

The Carnegie Library remains under threat until the Labour Cabinet explicitly rejects the proposals to relocate the library in favour of private flats and states that the Carnegie Library will not be sold off for private flats. We challenge the Labour administration in Lambeth to give an unequivocal commitment to maintain the library in its current building for the foreseeable future.

We will continue our campaign until we get this commitment and secure the future of the Carnegie Library

We believe poor use of the library is due to inadequate resources provided for Library services. Since 2006 Labour Lambeth has failed to make sufficient funding available to ensure that the Library can operate effectively. Last winter several libraries were closed because of broken boilers which the Council had not provided funding to maintain

The plan to re-locate the library to Herne Hill is a pipedream. No sites in Herne Hill have been identified for housing the Library. Space is at a premium in an inner-city borough like Lambeth.  The council is currently failing to find sites for much needed primary schools in Herne Hill  – where will they find space for a Library?

Given the appalling state of Lambeth finances even with the sale of Carnegie Library the funds will not be available to build a new Library.

Labour is once again considering selling off the Carnegie for private flats. This puts the future of the library in doubt and will produce an outcry in the local community. The plan to provide another library in Herne Hill is a pipedream. Whether it is local primary schools or libraries Labour just doesn’t seem to really care. Local residents will suffer because of Labour Lambeth’s financial mismanagement.

Local conservatives are campaigning to stop Labour Lambeth closing Carnegie Library and selling it off for private flats.

According to a National Audit report 1000 council properties are being left vacant resulting in GBP3.5m in lost rental revenues each year. Lambeth Labour are opposed to selling off these properties but are willing to sell off the Carnegie Library.

From 1998-99 local conservatives worked with other local community groups to save the Carnegie Library from being closed by the then Labour administration.

To join our campaign to save Carnegie Library again sign our online petition on the Campaigns page of this website.

The document can be downloaded from Lambeth’s website  here: