The local authorities have been facing numerous problems due to the reduced annual budget. To save the cost they were left with no option but to sell their libraries and museums.

These libraries and museums have been a part of the culture for a long time. The people would have been extremely disappointed if they were sold.

The sale of hundreds of libraries and museum has been stopped due to an old Victorian law. According to the 150 year old law the authorities will have to return the profit to the original land owners. This means that the local authorities will not be able to claim the money from the sale.

The purpose of the Literary and Scientific Institutions Act of 1854 was to make sure that the Britain’s wealthiest families donated land for the development of their surrounding areas.

As confirmed by the property advisors the councils cannot earn money from selling off the assets that are donated by these Britain’s wealthiest families. The authorities cannot use the land for any other purpose. If the land was donated for a library the authorities can only use it for running a library.

Due to this law around 400 libraries and at least 65 mobile libraries have been saved from closing.