A council has announced it will shut down nearly 40 community facilities - including libraries and swimming pools 

North Lanarkshire Council's has said its budget no longer supports keeping the facilities open, and they will have to be shuttered in a bid to save cash.  

The council faces a £64m budget gap over the next three years, and will save more than £4 million with the move.  

But it means communities will be deprived of vital services and facilities they have come to rely on.  

The local authority faces a difficult balancing act, and lays the blame at the door of years of council tax freezes and dwindled central funding. 

We want to know - are councils right to cut community services when times are tough, or should other ways be found to keep community assets open. 

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Petitions against the closures have been set up locally and residents have been sharing their outrage on social media in a bid to drum up signatories. 

The move has been met with resistance, however. Neil Gray, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts and Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, added: “People across Airdrie & Shotts will be appalled by this unnecessary and damaging decision. We will work with local people to see these potential closures stopped. The campaign to save our leisure facilities is on.”