Northamptonshire County Council: Views sought on library plans

The county council is holding an eight-week consultation on its library provision

A cash-strapped council is to consult the public on plans to offload the running of libraries on to communities as it seeks to keep them open.

Northamptonshire County Council plans to continue to manage 14 branches, with 22 being community-led with "support" from the council.

The authority, which has twice banned spending in 2018, must make savings of £42.9m in 2019-20.

The library proposal forms part of the Conservative council's financial plans.

"At this stage these are simply proposals, and what we need now is for people to have their say on what they think of these plans," said the cabinet member for health and wellbeing, Cecile Irving-Swift.

Last year the authority put forward a model to outsource some libraries but this idea was quashed following a Judicial Review.

Northamptonshire County Council is millions of pounds overspent on its budget

It said Tuesday that libraries that remain under county council control would be reviewed to ensure they are being used by a wider number of people.

It is also anticipated that housing developer contributions would be used to support the improvement of library infrastructure.

The local authority said: "The Council cannot consider maintaining the library service in its current form due to budgetary constraints and the need to deliver savings."

The public consultation will run for eight weeks.

The Cabinet will have the final say on the proposals.

The authority, which is facing a major restructuring of its services, will be scrapped in 2020, along with seven other Northamptonshire borough and district councils, to make way for two new unitary authorities.