Plans for a new community partnership library in Annesley Woodhouse

Nottinghamshire County Council is in discussions with Ashfield Community Radio and Media Training (ACRMT) to open the library in the Acacia Centre.

In November, the county council announced it must make £154m budget savings over the next three years due to challenging budget cuts across the authority.

Library managers say they can achieve £1m savings for the authority, partly through an innovative plan to preserve smaller libraries through a community partnership approach, along with a modernisation programme.

Coun John Knight, Committee Chairman for Culture, at Nottinghamshire County Council said: “We are totally committed to our libraries service. In the context of the difficult budget decisions we are having to make across the board as a county council, we need to look at increasingly innovative and creative ways to run our library services – while still offering people a fairer deal.”

The county council would need to invest £70,000 in the scheme, but ACRMT would host the library, provide a managed group of library volunteers and increase the hours that the library is open.

Annesley Woodhouse Library is currently sited at the village hall and is open for eight hours a week, issuing around 8,000 items and has around 3,350 visitors a year. ACRMT is looking to accommodate the new library within the current office space of the Acacia Centre to provide better access.