A COMMUNITY library has been thrown a lifeline in the form of £17,000 worth of funding.

Priorswood Library faced closure in April 2019 in funding wasn't found to help firm up plans to keep it running.

Taunton Deane Borough Council's unparished committee has agreed in principle to allocate £17,000 towards maintaining the library.

Judi Tregillus on behalf of the Friends of Taunton Library said: "This is wonderful news and will maintain access to library facilities in North Taunton and the villages nearby. We look forward to working with Somerset County Council to provide further information to the Committee."

To obtain the money, the Friends of Taunton Library need to provide information on how the library would operate to meet the needs of the local community.

Once further information is received, a final decision will be made in March.

Cllr Jane Warmington, executive councillor for community leadership at Taunton Deane Borough Council said: “We recognise the benefit of this library for all members of the community and are keen to secure its long-term future with investment in the service and new technology. This is another great example of the council supporting locally led action to maintain a valued community service.”

The funding comes as Somerset County Council announced plans to revamp how the county's libraries are run. The proposals left two libraries closing with a handful of others being run under a 'community library partnership'. The CLP would be run from staff, volunteers, or a mixture of both.

Cllr David Hall, cabinet member with responsibilities for libraries at Somerset County Council said: “Although there are still steps to take before a Community Library Partnership is formally in place at Priorswood Library, I am extremely pleased with progress to date. This is an example of great partnership working with so many coming together in such a positive and proactive way.”

If approved, this £17K will be on top of the £3K recently allocated annually by West Monkton Parish Council.

Tricia Cavill from West Monkton Parish Council said: “West Monkton Parish Council took part in the Library survey last year, stating that it wished to support the continuation of Library Services at Priorswood, as it is the nearest Library to the Parish. Helpful data about Library Users showed that of the 600 regular users of the Library at Priorswood, 50 were from the West Monkton area. It therefore seemed altogether appropriate that West Monkton Parish Council should support the initiative on behalf of its Parishioners.”

If a CLP is able to proceed, the library will continue to be staffed while new technology enabling the library to open for longer hours is installed.

Customers will be able to access the library, borrow, return and renew their library loans, collect items that have been reserved, use the library’s public access computers and online resources, when staff aren’t present simply by scanning the barcode on their library card.