Administrative / Public Law · The Administrative Court (King's Bench Division)
Susanne Girdler, R (on the application of) v Caerphilly County Borough Council
Checked against the judgment on 22 August 2026 · how we verify
Facts
The claimant is a member of the Save Abertridwr Library group, which has 237 members, and brought judicial review proceedings in support of that group to challenge Caerphilly County Borough Council's decision of 14 May 2025 to reduce the library service in Caerphilly. The Council had launched its Transformation Portfolio in July 2023 against an unprecedented financial position, requiring some £45m of savings from service transformation, with the library review itself expected to save circa £507,000 per annum. Following the pilot Rhymney Library Hub, which opened in January 2024, the Council consulted twice — Cabinet approving consultation on the draft Strategy on 16 October 2024, with the second phase running from 22 January to 12 March 2025 — before adopting a Strategy closing ten smaller outlying libraries and concentrating provision in town centre Community Hubs, supported by a new Community Outreach Service, the LibraryLink home delivery service, Community Asset Transfers and support for Independent Community Libraries. Consultees objected principally on grounds of travel distance, transport, cost and the effects on children, older people, disabled people and deprived communities. On 8 September 2025 Tim Smith, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, granted interim relief preventing closure of the ten libraries; on 3 March 2026 the Court ordered a rolled-up hearing; and on 24 April 2026 HHJ Keyser KC gave permission to amend the grounds.
What did the court decide?
Four things on this page are for subscribers:
- The decision: what the court actually held
- The issues: the questions it had to answer
- The reasoning: how it got there, in its own logic
- The case history: every step, court by court
CaseLawDigest reads every judgment published on Find Case Law for England and Wales, files it by practice area, and writes a summary a practitioner can use. One weekly PDF per area, and the full archive here.
One practice area is £19 a month, and the weekly PDF lands in your inbox.
See the plans Or take the free digestOn your firm’s subscription? Set up your access. Already have an account? Sign in.