Thursday, October 01, 2009

Tories and lottery money spent on new Pollards Hill Library

Later on today, the new library in Pollards Hill will be opened by The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. This is despite the fact that the Greater London Authority has provided no funding at all for the library, clearly Boris seems to be spending his time opening facilties of which the GLA have no link with and has made no financial contribution at all. As local Pollards Hill councillors', Richard Williams and myself have issued a press release pointing out the hypocrisy of the Conservative administration in Merton, and the policy of the Conservatives nationally in criticizing lottery money being spent on libraries.

Tories: lottery money spent on new Pollards Hill Library was theft

On the day that the new Pollards Hill Library is officially opened local Councillors have been drawing attention to the fact that under a Conservative Government, the lottery money to rebuild the library would not have been available. National Tory policy is that lottery money spent on libraries is 'lottery larceny' and they would change the law to stop it happening.

Pollards Hill Labour Councillor Richard Williams commented:

'Having a new library is something to celebrate but seeing Tories who believe that using lottery money to rebuild local libraries is stealing celebrating with them will leave many residents confused.'

Fellow Pollards Hill Councillor Martin Whelton added:

'Should the Tories win the next election and have their way, there must be fears that the lottery money being spent on the library will be stopped. We'll be inviting Merton Tories and Mayor Boris to tell the Conservative Party that the new library is a good thing and cuts like this would be wrong'




1. Conservative Party policy announced in February 2008 is that lottery money should not be spent on libraries: http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2008/02/Reforming_the_National_Lottery.aspx
The announcement was covered in media reports:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512984/Lottery-billions-used-Labour-projects-funded-taxes.html
This remains Conservative Party policy: http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Culture_Media_and_Sport.aspx

2. Mayor Boris Johnson will open the library at lunchtime while a celebration for residents, with local councillors attending, will take place in the afternoon.