A SOMERSET library which faced closure could stay open after a local charity has been chosen to fund it.

Wiveliscombe Town Council has announced the charity, Wiveliscombe Area Partnership, will be the lead partner in a union with the town's library under a Community Library Partnership (CLP).

The council agreed the charity would be the best choice because it had the infrastructure for the necessary requirements.

Marian Mann, chairman of the town council’s library working group, said: “Councillors are very pleased that a solution has been found for the way forward and we can start the new year with a bright looking future for the library.”

The announcement comes after Somerset Council announced last year it planned to stop funding libraries and instead support local groups to fund the libraries themselves.