A TOP councillor behind controversial library funding cuts has been ousted by her own party for next year’s council elections.

Beaconsfield Conservatives took Buckinghamshire County Council member Margaret Dewar out of the running for the summer polls.

As cabinet member for community services Cllr Dewar pulled funding from four south Bucks libraries – and was blasted last week for scrapping a new facility for Stoke Poges.

Cllr Dewar, a party member for 40 years, said: “I am disappointed that my party could not support me because I feel that is not what you do with people who are so loyal.”

A volunteer who helped save one of the under-threat libraries said her departure was “probably a good thing”.

Adrian Busby, presently leader of South Bucks District Council, will instead stand for the ward.

Cllr Dewar said she thought her opposition to the merging of the three district councils in south Bucks to a single unitary authority was behind her deselection.

This proposal - which is not at the moment on the table - would see one council do the job of three district councils and county council, such as schools, planning and social care.

Cllr Dewar, of Burkes Close, Beaconsfield, said: “Splitting the county in two is very much the wrong way to go.

“Financially, it could cause lots of problems.”

Last week Cllr Dewar decided to pull the council out of a project to build a new library in Stoke Poges after the previous facility closed in 2005 (see link, right).

She said the project was delayed and there was too little demand for the facility – but angry villagers accused the cash-strapped library department of doing it to save cash.

But asked if the library issue had played a part in her deselection she said: “No. They know very well, as everybody else knows, that in three years the county council is going to have a black hole in its finances.”

She said: “I cannot imagine I would have been in the cabinet next time round anyway. You have to look around for new blood.”

Yet Philip Dunville, agent for the constituency party, said the Cllr Dewar was not correct in her reasoning that the unitary issue was a factor.

He said: “Adrian Busby is a talented individual. With the selection you have to weigh up who is the best candidate for the next four years.”

Mr Dunville, who said library closures were not a factor, added: “The big issue is the ability and competence of the people in question.”

West Wycombe, Micklefield, Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont libraries lost council funding in 2006 but have remained open as community libraries through volunteers and donations.

A report from a council scrutiny committee this month urged the council reinstate some funding and provide free services – but Cllr Dewar rejected this.

Jim Brooks, who helped keep Little Chalfont Library open, said Cllr Dewar’s departure would “probably be a good thing from our perspective because she appeared to be very anti-community libraries”.