Essex County Council has bucked a national trend of library closures, boasting an increase of council supported community-led libraries since 2016.

Essex County Council has maintained 74 statutory council-run libraries since 2016, gaining four additional community-led libraries. 

This means that the council has increased the number of libraries in the county that the council must fund and maintain, even if a third-party, such as a community group, runs the site.

The increase in libraries is despite a 15% decrease of library staff posts nationally, with 248 staff in Essex losing their job in the same timeframe.

The national picture looks much more bleak, with the Local Democracy Reporting Service finding that around 180 public libraries have either closed or moved to volunteer groups since 2016.

More than 2,000 jobs have also been lost since then, with nearly 1,000 remaining libraries having reduced their hours. 

Former Children's Laureate and author, Michael Rosen, who has written more than 200 books including children's classic We're Going on a Bear Hunt, told the BBC: "Every time I hear of a library being closed I find it absolutely horrifying… this seems to be like a decimation of our cultural entitlement.

"There are many children who come from families where they either don't think to buy books or can't afford to buy books… we're taking away free books. At the very moment we're saying we want everybody to read – so it seems both absurd and horrifying.

Former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen. (Photo: BBC)

"These are very, very important spaces, we should be treasuring them. We should feel, isn't it wonderful that we have these? We must fight to save them and find different and new ways to make them popular."