IT became ‘crystal clear’ at a parish meeting that residents outside of Launceston do not wish to lose the town’s library, a meeting of the town council heard last week.

Launceston Town Council on July 19 heard that two of its members, Cllrs Dave Gordon and Val Bugden-Cawsey, attended Werrington Parish Council, where they spoke about the town’s library.

Last month (June), the town council said it is willing to enter into negotiations with Cornwall Council over the future of the library as long as terms and conditions are fair and reasonable — there is the potential for the running of Launceston library to be devolved from Cornwall Council to the town council.

The Post has previously reported that the town council has written to the surrounding parishes to see if it would have their support, should the town council decide to take on the running of the town’s library from Cornwall Council.

Cllr Gordon said of the recent meeting he attended at Werrington: “We tried to reassure them the town council doesn’t look at it as our library. We want to work with the parish councils surrounding the town as partners with one aim, and to work with those partners in a positive way.

“One thing became crystal clear, they don’t want to lose their library neither.”

He added they had talked about any parishes acting as partners making a financial contribution, and the meeting heard Werrington Parish Council would be gathering feedback from its residents and reporting back the findings to the parish clerk.

Cllr Val Bugden-Cawsey added: “I think we should really encourage close working relationships with our neighbours in the parishes — and not just on the library.”

The councillors said they would be happy to talk about the library, as they have done at Werrington, at other local parish council meetings.