I am dismayed by the £83million worth of cuts approved by Harrow Labour Council at last Thursday's council meeting (“There have been difficult decisions, admits leader”, Harrow Times, February 26).

This will have a devastating impact on the local community, affecting the most vulnerable and in need of support.

I am particularly distressed at the imminent closure of four out of the ten Harrow libraries — North Harrow, Bob Lawrence, Hatch End and Rayners Lane.

As a school librarian, who has worked in both public and school libraries over the past 12 years, I see at first hand the essential support they provide.

They are one of the few neutral, safe spaces where people from the very young to the very old can locate information for free, use a computer or find a book.

They are the lynchpins of a community and without them we are preventing toddlers and parents attending storytime sessions; taking from young people a place to study; the unemployed access to computers and the old, a place to borrow books and meet friends. All four libraries under threat have been running petitions, with the Save the Bob Lawrence Library campaign gaining 5,250 signatures and providing a strong alternative case for where savings could be made, without closures. Unbelievably, Harrow Labour councillors have ignored these campaigns, even going so far as asking Bob Lawrence Library to take down 140 letters from schoolchildren asking for the library to stay open.

This is an appalling disregard of public opinion and shows that Labour, in line with the current government, will do nothing to protect public libraries.

As the prospective Green Party candidate for Harrow East, I am against these devastating cuts.

I am supporting the Harrow library campaigns and will be attending the next council meeting on March 19 at the Harrow Civic Centre, to voice concern at the future of Harrow libraries.

Emma Wallace

Harrow East Green Party Parliamentary candidate