HOPES that six Aberdeen libraries would be spared the axe have been dashed after the council voted to back the closures.

SNP-led Aberdeen City Council, at its budget meeting in March, chose to close Bucksburn swimming pool and six libraries, at Cornhill, Cults, Ferryhill, Kaimhill, Northfield and Woodside, which serve some of the city’s most deprived communities.

Following a campaign that gathered 9,000 signatures to a petition, Save Aberdeen Libraries led a successful legal challenge to the decision, arguing that the consultation was flawed and failed to comply with the council’s duties on equalities.

This led to the consultation being rerun. When the results were put before the council this week, the swimming pool was saved, but SNP councillors voted down a Labour motion to save the libraries, sealing their fate.

A Save Aberdeen Libraries spokesperson rued the lack of “creative thinking” in the decision, saying: “We are bitterly disappointed that Aberdeen councillors voted to confirm the library closures.

“They will be a huge loss to the communities they served.

“Such is the strength of feeling in the city, we believe these closures will be remembered at the ballot box.

“The people of Aberdeen deserve better.”

The council was contacted for comment.