PEOPLE who fear losing library services as part of county council cost-cutting have welcomed a cash injection to give them a stay of execution.

North Yorkshire County Council has established a £650,000 oneoff fund to buy more time for the threatened libraries.

This will give volunteer-led community groups the chance to put forward propoals for running the service.

The council is looking to cut its £7.5m library budget by £1.1m in the next 12 months – and by £2.3m over the next four years.

The council runs 42 libraries and several mobile libraries.

The search for savings has led to the council to place 23 of these, including at Easingwold, Great Ayton and Bedale, at risk of closure.

The county council is running a consultation until the end of next month to gather the views of library users and the general public.

A mixed feedback from the consultation so far has led to the decision to put up more funding.

Several protest groups, such as the Friends of Easingwold Library and Save Great Ayton Library, have been set up.

Beverley Knights, of the Easingwold group, said: “We think they’re showing signs of listening to the outcry that arose from the original proposals.

“We need some very radically revised proposals from the original ones to reflect the needs of the communities in North Yorkshire.”

Ian Pearce, of Save Great Ayton Library, said: “The answer is not keeping the libraries open short-term but in the long term.

“It must be good news that they’ve found the money and, if they are putting it into libraries, it shows they feel they’re important.”

He said the group felt it would have to generate £17,000 a year to survive if it was community-run library.

The council has found £300,000 from its library service book fund and £350,000 from the general corporate budget to generate the extra money.

Council leader John Weighell said: “The county has to find £69m in savings over the next four years. We don’t like any cuts to our services, but everything we do has to be scrutinised to see what savings can be made.

“We have always known that libraries are important to our communities.

We have taken note of the very strong messages coming out of the library consultation and we agree to provide more time to find the best solution possible.”