Consultation prompts North Yorkshire library staff rethink

The council said more than 17,000 took part in the consultation

Libraries in North Yorkshire will not be run entirely by volunteers after a public consultation revealed people were against the move.

Council plans were for 21 libraries to be community-run but the authority is now proposing that those libraries have some paid staff.

Consultation responses said this was necessary for libraries to survive.

The library budget is being halved in 10 years, from £7.8m in 2010 to £4.2m by 2020.

North Yorkshire County Council said under the new plans the "highest-performing" libraries - Catterick, Colburn, Crosshills, Easingwold, Eastfield, Sherburn, Stokesley and Thirsk - would be given 12 to 15 hours a week of additional support.

Five to seven hours of additional support will be given to the following libraries: Bedale, Bentham, Boroughbridge, Helmsley, Ingleton, Kirbymoorside, Leyburn, Norton, Pateley Bridge, Scalby, Settle, Starbeck and Tadcaster.

The authority said larger, busier libraries in Filey, Knaresborough, Pickering, Ripon and Whitby would retain a 40% staffing level alongside volunteers.

Core libraries in each of the county's seven districts will remain the same with a combination of the current staffing level of 60% and volunteers.

The authority said more than 17,000 people took part in the consultation and councillors were expected to approve the changes next month.