HIGHBRIDGE Library looks set to close after town councillors voted against a £20,000 rescue plan to save it.

At a Burnham and Highbridge Town Council meeting on Monday (November 12) councillors decided not to put forward an Expression of Interest to keep the library open in Market Street, as they said no volunteers have come forward to help run it.

The news comes just a month after Somerset County Council announced it will be cutting funding to library services across the county.

In a report, published on October 16, the authority identified Highbridge as one of 15 libraries which may be under threat and said it would seek to develop community library partnerships (CLPs), where local groups would support the buildings in partnership with County Hall.

But the town council said they will not be submitting a CLP Expression of Interest on November 15 and as a result Highbridge Library looks set to close at the end of December.

Speaking at the meeting Councillor Phil Harvey, said: "Two groups will be affected if the library closes, those who can't afford to get to Burnham to use their library and those who rely on it for the public library and internet facilities.

"The closure of the Co-op just a few weeks ago has already affected the viability of Market Street.

"The cost of keeping the library open could be added onto council tax bills.

"A Band D tax cost would go up just 6p a week to generate £20,000 for the library to keep running.”

But Councillor Peter Clayton said he thinks the town council should pour funding into supporting a library outreach service rather than committing funding to keep the library open.

"What is the point of putting together £20,000 of funding when the library is so under-used?," Cllr Clayton said.

“If the worst comes to the worst and it closes, then the mobile library and an outreach service will still be available, so it’s not all doom and gloom.

"If we have got no support what is the point of keeping the facility and spending £20,000 if no one uses it."

Councillor Andy Brewer echoed Cllr Clayton's comments and said earlier this year the town council made a commitment to work with other parishes to save the facility but said no one has come forward to help run it.

And Cllr Janet Keen said the service is 'underused' and residents have not demonstrated they want to use the facility.

“It’s easy to get swept along in sympathy, but looking at it coldly, I use Highbridge library often and so many times I see that it is under-used," Cllr Keen said.

"It’s not necessarily just because of the opening hours. If there were other reasons to go into the library then it could help.

"There has to be a cold business assessment and the number of users is ridiculously small. It’s not possible for us to put forward an expression of interest until we have the people confirmed who will run it – it’s a sorry state, but that’s sadly the way it is.”

Cllr Clayton proposed the town council support an outreach library service instead of submitting a CLP Expression of Interest.

Eight councillors voted in favour of the proposal with four voting against and one abstaining from the vote.