Plans to close seven Bristol libraries on hold

Eastville Library could have closed under plans to cut £1.1m from the council's library budget

Plans to close seven libraries in Bristol in a council bid to save money have been put on hold.

Bristol City Council said it needed to save £1.1m from its library budget by 2016-17, but it had now postponed the changes and was seeking new plans.

The council said there were still likely to be job cuts. Forty posts were under threat in the original plans.

It has guaranteed the libraries will not close in this financial year and consultation will run until 30 June.

The city's elected mayor George Ferguson, an independent, said they were trying to find "creative community solutions". This could include using volunteers to help run libraries.

The original plans to close the libraries were opposed by the city's deputy mayor Geoff Gollop, who said earlier that closing them "did not reflect users' wishes".

The seven libraries threatened with closure are in Clifton, Redland, Eastville, Sea Mills, Marksbury Road in Bedminster, Westbury and Wick Road in Brislington.