I READ with interest and growing amazement Helen Coombes’ Talking Point (Hereford Times, April 16).

Does no-one on the county council realise that the service Mrs Coombes describes and the ‘hub’ for which they are now tendering existed for decades until it was deliberately run down over the last 10 or 15 years.

It was known as the public library and, in addition to its lending facilities (books, music, CDs, DVDs etc) it provided reference and information services through professional librarians trained in assembling, organising and disseminating information.

It would be a service to the community if the council were to disclose the cost of its proposals compared to the savings made by destroying a perfectly adequate and professional service.

This looks uncommonly like privatisation by the back door, just as we have been seeing under our Conservative government and now our Conservative council.

F MILLIGAN Church Road, Hereford