We launched a petition and held a protest at the library last month, and last week two HPERA committee members attended a meeting of the County Council's Strategy and Resources Committee to present the petition and ask if the council intended to stop the sale. Our campaign resulted in press coverage in both the Cambridge Independent and Cambridge News, and even in the pages of Private Eye - here and here. However we are sorry to report that despite our efforts to stop the sale, we have not (yet) succeeded in obtaining a guarantee that the sale will not go ahead.
Lucy Nethsingha, the new leader of the council, assured us that the council is doing everything it can to ensure that the library is safe for the long-term, but that the council appears to have very limited powers in respect of This Land Ltd, despite being its sole shareholder.
In the meantime we hope you will help us generate more signatures for the petition, which closes on 19 July. If everyone who has already signed persuaded just two more people to sign, we would have enough signatures to guarantee a debate in the full council meeting on 20 July. And if you haven't already done so, please write to our new county councillor, Gerri Bird, the leader of the council Lucy Nethsingha, her deputy Elisa Meschini, and the new councillor for Arbury (in which the library is situated), Hilary Cox Condron. Please act now and help safeguard the long term future of the building.