Five community libraries in Bolton are set to close to save the council up to £500,000.
Other libraries will have their opening hours increased to compensate.
The five due to shut are in the Heaton, Astley Bridge, Highfield, Oxford Grove and Castle Hill areas of Bolton.
Four more that were earmarked for closure, in Harwood, Breightmet, Bromley Cross and on High Street, Bolton, have won a reprieve. The closure proposals are part of town hall plans to save £60m over two years.
Campaigners have vowed to fight the closures. The Save Bolton Libraries campaign, which collected more than 16,000 signatures on a series of petitions, said it would seek a legal challenge to the decision.
Campaign chairman Tom Hanley accused councillors on the ruling executive committee of ‘cultural vandalism’.
He said: “We will continue to oppose all library closures and reductions in service at a time when a rational approach to libraries would be to increase expenditure to meet the needs of the rising number of unemployed and to facilitate many of the proposed government initiatives to increase literacy and IT usage.
“We will consider a number of options in the next few days, including a legal challenge, as well as building on the massive public anger already expressed by thousands of people across Bolton from all backgrounds.
The library service review was launched by the council in January.
There are currently 15 libraries in Bolton, with a budget of £2.9m. Bolton Central Library in the town centre is unaffected.
A final decision on the closures is due in September.
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Why do politicians always cut the wrong things? These libraries should NOT be closed. Heaton is my local library and when I was in recently, I saw well-behaved children from a nearby primary school reading books and using the internet. Similarly, I know that children from the Holy Infants Primary School make good use of Astley Bridge library. The Soviet Republic of Bolton has its share of people with useless jobs along the usual lines: diversity officers; multi-cultural this and that; inequality outreach workers; climate change awareness personnel etc, etc, etc. These jobs are where the cuts should fall and not on the local libraries.
its a shame. remember this is a direct result of the reckless gambling of the banksters!
If the conservatives & liberal democrats hadn't slashed council funding in Labour areas, then libraries wouldn't have to be closed. Simple as.
Jamie