USERS of Palmers Green Library have expressed their dismay at plans to move it to a disused shop.

Enfield Green Party member, Jack Johnson, who has used the 70-year-old library in the Southgate Town Hall building in Green Lanes since he was a child, said he was appalled that the council was considering the move down the road to the former Marks and Spencer food store.

He said several questions remained unanswered.

“Will staff numbers remain the same, or should we expect redundancies?” he said. “Will the new library have longer opening hours to accommodate the supposed new influx of visitors?

“Will the people of Palmers Green keep the same range of services, or should we expect the sort of ‘no frills’ cutbacks seen by Tory-run Barnet Council?”

lan Sitkin of Park View, Palmers Green said the council's plans were “misleading”.

He said: “Local Tories are distributing leaflets claiming to preserve the Palmers Green library site in public use, but then openly admit that they plan to sell the premises off to developers.

“They also state that they will use the proceeds of this sale to finance the redevelopment of Broomfield House, but this belies David Burrowes's previous announcement that Boris Johnson had promised sufficient funds for this latter project.  “This kind of posturing does nothing to advance the very real interests of residents in the Bowes/Palmers Green corridor.”

Chairman of Broomfield Residents' Association Gillian Yeung, of Kelvin Avenue, said she was outraged.

“Last year the council gave us their solemn promise that they would not be taking the library away, but they changed their mind and broke their promise. The council seems to be selling everything of value. Truro House, the former coaching inn, was sold for flats.

"When I went there so many people were going in and the place was full." Old Park Road resident Michael Brett, said the move was not much of a deal for residents and called the idea “shabby”.

He also said the timing was “sneaky” as everyone was on holiday at the end of August.