CAMPAIGNERS want to collect 5,000 names on a petition to force county council chiefs to think again about closing libraries.

Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries met last night to decide on the wording of the petition, which will be made available online and later distributed to shops in the Forest of Dean.

Libraries facing closure in Cinderford, Mitcheldean, Newnham and Bream, as well as the mobile service, are not allowed to host petitions in their buildings.

They are also supporting a letter from six former senior librarians to Government culture minister Ed Vaizey asking whether closing libraries might be illegal.

Mr Vaizey has the power to halt the cuts if he agrees the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 has been breached. The law requires councils to provide a service which is "comprehensive and efficient and is available to all who wish to use it".

Library campaigners say the county council will only claw back two per cent of the £108 million it wants to save by closing the libraries and that a 43 per cent cut to the county service is unfair.

"Only 5,000 people took part in the consultation over cuts – that's less than one per cent of the population," said Demelza Jones from FoGL. "We have no idea whether it represents the cross-section of our communities. We believe the options offered were flawed – if people are given the choice of cutting libraries or services for the elderly, of course they will choose libraries."

As well as addressing a public meeting at Cinderford Miners' Welfare Hall on Friday December 10, county council leader Coun Mark Hawthorne (Con, Morelands) is due to attend Cinderford Town Council's meeting on December 14 with Forest of Dean District Council leader Coun Peter Amos (Con, Awre), to discuss the closure of the town's library.

Coun Hawthorne evaded protesters outside The Main Place in Coleford last Friday when he was attending a carers' event. They claimed he slipped in through a back entrance.

Coun Amos warned library users and staff not to get their hopes up because the district could not afford to take over services.

"We are setting up a meeting to try to find a way forward," he said. "There's no money left so we have to find a different way of working."

Forest of Dean District Council is currently drawing up plans to shave between £2.3 million and £2.8 million from the annual budget. It will debate the proposals in January.

Anne Riley, from trade union Unison, said: "The petition needs to trigger a debate on the county council budget not just the library proposals – as that will just deal with the how and when, rather than stopping the cuts."

.com FoGL are also urging people to write to Coun Hawthorne at Shire Hall.