A LIBRARY in Billingham is due to close for refurbishment at the weekend while another will close permanently in the New Year.

The Roseberry Library, on the Causeway, closes on Saturday and will reopen as a new £2.7m library and customer service centre in the New Year.

The new building is being built on the site of the town's former Art Gallery and council offices and will replace both Roseberry Library and the old Billingham Library, on Bedale Avenue.

It will create customer services offices for Stockton Borough Council and Tristar Homes, as well as the headquarters for Billingham Town Council.

The new library will have self-serve technology and better ICT facilities, the council said.

Until the new Library and Customer Service Centre opens Billingham Library, on Bedale Avenu,e will be open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm.

Councillor Ken Dixon, Stockton Borough Council’s cabinet member for arts, leisure and culture, said: “This is the latest chapter in the reconfiguration of the library service in Billingham as staff and residents get ready to move into the state-of-the-art building.

"We ask local library users to bear with us and to make the most of the library on Bedale Avenue while the transition takes place. We also look forward to welcoming them in the brand new purpose built library in the New Year.”

In April last year, Stockton Borough Council announced plans to refurbish and relocate libraries across the borough following public consultation.

Earlier this year Roseworth Library and Thornaby (Westbury Street) successfully moved into the Redhill and Riverbank Children’s Centres and in recent months the Stockton Public Health Information Library has also relocated from Bayheath House, in Stockton, into the Redhill facility. A transformed Norton library also reopened this week after its major refurbishment.