Villagers' library plan row.

Byline: By Dave Black 

A village library facing closure under a controversial service shake-up could be taken over by local volunteers and run as a combined library and community centre.

People in Ellington, Northumberland, have agreed in principle to set up a local trust to manage the building, which would be 'gifted' to the community by the county council.

A working group is being established to lead the project, which would involve the former school house being used as a village hall and the base for a volunteer-run, community library collection.

However, the situation has left some locals angry, amid claims that the county council has effectively 'blackmailed' villagers into taking over the library service in return for retaining the building.

Ellington was one of 12 branch libraries under threat of closure last year as part of a review by the county council. In December it was agreed to transfer several of them to parish council management and replace others with locally-run community collections.

It was decided to look into moving Ellington Library to the local school but since then the county council has offered to gift the building to the village, with the proviso it continues to house a library service.

Now a public meeting in Ellington, attended by dozens of people on Tuesday night, has agreed to set up a working group aimed at taking over the building. But yesterday parish council chairman George Jackson said the village had been handed a 'fait accompli'.

"If we want to retain the building, which is a community asset, we must agree to run a library service. In my personal opinion, the library service is the responsibility of the county council and they are reneging on that duty."

Arnold Baker, who represents Ellington on Castle Morpeth Borough Council, said: "I would suggest that the parish council and residents need to proceed with caution on this. In terms of funding, they could find themselves in difficulty running the building and a library service. I still feel the county council's decision to close the library was a serious mistake which has done local communities a great disservice."

Local county councillor Jim Wright, a member of the Labour executive which agreed the library shake-up, said: "I believe the parish council and residents have recognised the inevitability of a change to the library service and want to get the best deal from it.

"Ellington is a large, growing community which doesn't have a community centre or village hall and I think many people see this as an opportunity. At present the library building is only open 12 hours a week but if it is taken over by the village it can be used as often as they want by local groups."