Following today’s High Court hearing, this in from the council, in their own words. Ed
Barry Abraham, Isle of Wight Council cabinet member responsible for libraries, said, “We are pleased the judge has rejected the judicial review application. Furthermore we welcome his view that the council had listened to comments made during the consultation and altered proposals accordingly.
“We note his comment that even if he had granted an extension of time for bringing the judicial review action, he would have still refused permission to bring the action because none of the issues drawn to his attention by the claimant were arguable.”
Cllr Abraham said: “We have been working with community groups to try and ensure that no community loses its library provision as a result of the necessary re-organisation of the service.
“This decision means that we can focus all our efforts on helping support those community groups who are working so hard to establish community libraries. We have recently extended the time available to these groups to finalise their proposals as a sign of our commitment to maintaining an excellent library provision on the Island.”
Besides a significant amount of staff time, the cost of engaging counsel to defend the judicial review application is around £12,000.
