COUNCILLORS are set to discuss the future of the town’s libraries following a report on LiveWire’s public consultation.

The agenda for the meeting includes plans for a working group to be set up to look at library services across the town, two experienced staff members to be appointed and a number of capital investment projects.

And lending lockers will be trialled for 12 months in Fairfield and Howley and Westy, where there are currently no libraries.

Options for Culcheth, Lymm, Burtonwood, Stockton Heath and Padgate libraries are still under discussion and a decision about the future of each of these sites is expected in the summer.

LiveWire invited residents to have their say on plans to close nine of the town’s 11 libraries as part of a public consultation in September and the company received more than 2,000 responses.

The feedback has been used to prepare the report and recommendations, which councillors have been invited to agree upon at an executive board meeting on Monday.

The working group is set to be made up of council, LiveWire and independent advisors and will be responsible for developing a new plan for modernising the service.

The group will answer to the executive board and is expected to report back with its findings in November.

A new LiveWire board member with knowledge of libraries will also be recruited and a new strategic library lead will be appointed by April, as the post is currently vacant.

It is estimated that the plans will make savings of £200,000 per year, but during the consultation process LiveWire stated it needs to save £300,000 a year.

The agenda says: “The proposals for change and closure of sites were not supported by the majority of respondents.

“However there was a recognition that resources were stretched as a result of ongoing government austerity cuts and that services needed to be fit for the future.

“Resources for frontline services are becoming increasingly pressurized. As the council is forced to make cuts elsewhere as a result of this government’s continued austerity programme, libraries also come under the spotlight.”

A report on the new strategy for libraries and a financial plan will be produced by September 30.

Readers have been sending in their selfies proving they use their local library with the hashtag #LoveMyLibrary. 

Click above to see the gallery of pictures.