THE CAMPAIGN to save Dorset’s threatened Libraries has been backed by two high profile local Tories.

Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, a Conservative peer, has given his support to the Ad Lib (Association of Friends of Dorset Libraries) campaign.

West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin, a member of the coalition Cabinet, has also backed opposition to Dorset County Council proposals to withdraw funding to ten libraries. The council is just weeks away from making a decision on the future of the library service in Dorset as it seeks to achieve savings of £800,000.

The option preferred by council officers would see ten of the county’s 34 libraries lose funding and face the threat of closure.

Ad Lib supports alternative plans that would see all 34 libraries retain funding.

Lord Fellowes wrote a letter to the council’s cabinet member for community services Hilary Cox and policy development panel chairman David Crowhurst, saying: “There seems to have grown up an idea that the destruction of libraries is somehow demanded by the Prime Minister and that it is an act of loyalty to him and his policies to lay them waste. In fact he and the Chancellor want to hear of imaginative schemes that mean money may be saved with as little damage to communities as possible.”

Mr Letwin has also written a letter supporting Ad Lib.