Caerphilly County Borough Council’s decision-making cabinet has been told to look again at plans to close Aberbargoed Library.
The body, made up of leading councillors, has been told by the authority’s Education for Life Scrutiny Committee to come up with figures showing how much it would cost to keep Aberbargoed Library open.
The cabinet wants to close the library and merge its service into the recently opened Hanbury Chapel Library in Bargoed.
Council scrutiny committees are designed to hold the cabinet to account and are made up of cross-party councillors.
Councillor Phil Bevan, cabinet member for Education at Caerphilly County Borough Council, has responded to the scrutiny committee’s recommendation.
He said: “This Plaid-led council has received praise, including from the Labour Assembly Minister Huw Lewis, for the fantastic new Hanbury Chapel development which caters for people living in Aberbargoed and surrounding areas as well as Bargoed.
“I’m delighted after this wonderful refurbishment that thousands of people have already visited the new library since its opening and many of them have travelled from the Aberbargoed area.
“A report due to be discussed by cabinet clearly shows that the old Aberbargoed Library is beyond physical repair and does not meet current Welsh Government standards for library buildings.
“Meeting these standards elsewhere has allowed us to draw funding from CYMAL to invest in our libraries – which have earned such warm praise from the Labour Minister – as set out in our 10-year strategy.
“The suggestion by last week’s scrutiny committee to invest a significant amount of money in providing a library for the village in the recently vacated primary school needs to be viewed in the light of budget constraints affecting every local authority and every public service in Wales.
“If the cabinet agreed to divert the almost £1m to make this building fit for library purposes, it would have to be taken from other much needed frontline services in the area. I don’t think anyone could question this Plaid-led council’s commitment to library services. They only need to look at what we have done and what will be done in the future.
“A new library in Aberbargoed would be located less than one mile away from a brand new facility at nearby Hanbury Chapel, which would mean duplicating library services and not maximising the resources available for everyone in the county borough.”
The cabinet is due to discuss the scrutiny committee’s recommendation at its meeting on Tuesday.