CAMELFORD Town Council hopes to take over the running of the town’s library by April 1, 2018.

At last week’s meeting of the Camelford Community Network Panel, Amanda Musgrave, deputy clerk to the town council, gave an update on the library.

Negotiations with Cornwall Council over the service contract are ongoing, but the council aims to take over the library by April 1 next year.

It is hoped that the three members of existing library staff, two librarians and one cleaner, will transfer over. Existing staff will have first refusal to the jobs offered.

There will be extended opening hours, with the library being open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 1pm on Saturdays.

Ms Musgrave noted that the take-over by the town council is costing Camelford residents £33,000 per year to continue the service for the network area, the equivalent to 46p per week.

Ms Musgrave sought feedback or suggestions to help with the funding.

Pointing to a map of users, she said a large percentage come from outside Camelford.

“A lot of users that use the library and One Stop Shop actually come from outside Camelford, 75%. It’s costing people in Camelford quite a lot of money. The overwhelming response was they wanted to keep the library. They didn’t want to lose the service in Camelford.”