Trafford Conservatives have welcomed the news that Trafford Libraries continue to flourish. The new Altrincham Library has been open for a year and it is reported that in that time the number of books borrowed has gone up by 32%, visitors up by 47% and new members up by 101%. The news is a fantastic achievement and Conservatives wish to congratulate all the Trafford library staff on the remarkable achievement.
Conservatives are aware that that most learning of literacy happens in the first 11 years of a child’s life, as does the development of a person’s love of reading. Under the previous Trafford Conservative administration, a new policy was introduced which resulted in every child whose birth is registered in Trafford receiving a library card and a book start pack. Conservatives also abolished library fines for all ages from April 2018 and became the first public library authority in the country to adopt this policy, which sent a welcome message to residents in Trafford that they had access to a completely free library service. This decision overcame evidence that suggested that the charge was off-putting for customers and helped to see a further increase in usage of libraries across the borough.
Dr. Shengke Zhi, Conservative local election candidate for Altrincham said “This is great news for Altrincham and Trafford Libraries. To achieve such an uplift in footfall, members and borrowing demonstrates that there is a real thirst for knowledge in the area.”
“It should also be remembered that it was the Conservatives who brought about the redevelopment of Altrincham Library and who abolished library fines, despite opposition from other parties on the Council who scare mongered that residents couldn’t be trusted to return books to our libraries.”
Cllr. Nathan Evans, Leader of Trafford Conservatives added “Thanks to the forward thinking and vision of the previous Conservative administration, Altrincham Library is seeing increased visitor numbers as part of a new state-of-the-art building in the heart of the town. We are confident that the new Timperley and Hale libraries, first proposed under the previous Conservative administration will be just a popular with local residents.”
