RESIDENTS of St Johns marched through the streets on Saturday in protest at proposed library cuts.

The group, which gathered outside St John's Library, formed a group and marched through the streets of St John's to the traffic lights, then performed a lap around the back of the St John in Bedwardine church before arriving back at the library.

While on the march, protestors of all ages joined in chanting "No ifs, no buts, no to council cuts" and "They say cutback, we say fightback"

The march was organised by library users and Socialist Party members Sean McCauley and Mark Davies, and the group of marchers included more than 30 residents of all ages.

Mr McCauley, assistant secretary of the Worcestershire branch of the National Education Union, said: "The County Council will not step back from these cuts.

"We want to send the message that whether it is this library, or any other library across the county, we want to see them kept open.

"The council has £2million worth of reserves which they will not use to support the libraries. We want to know what they are doing with that."

Throughout the march, passing pedestrians added their support, as well as passing motorists, many of whom hit their horns in support of the marchers.

When back at the library, Mr McCauley gave a speech in which he said: "They won't step back from the £800,000 worth of cuts so we need to keep this campaign going over the next few weeks until we have a clearer picture of the library's future.

"The money is there folks, they have got £2million in reserves which they are not prepared to use."

At the group's previous protest in April, one protestor, Liz Griffin, said: "We have lived here since 1983 and our children have used the library all their lives.

"It is more than just a library and more than just a place to go for books. There are community groups who meet here and that is vital at a time when loneliness is such a big issue."

The protest group has held previous events and organised a petition after Worcestershire County Council said it intended to slash £1 million from its library budget by the end of the financial year in 2021.

The plan was blamed on cuts to local government funding but this was later changed to £800,000, with the authority saying this was done after speaking with the public