THE city council has handed a lifeline to two libraries by agreeing to pay more than £150,000 a year to cover the cost of running them.

Changes were planned at the city’s St John’s and Warndon libraries as part of a Worcestershire County Council review to cut £800,000 from its library budget in the next three years.

But now the future of St John's library in Glebe Close and Warndon library in Carnforth Drive looks a little more secure with Worcester City Council pledging to cover the yearly running costs of both libraries.

The city council's policy and resources committee agreed on Tuesday (June 4) to use £157,000 of a £250,000 fund put aside to fund 'closer collaboration' work with the county council.

From that fund, the city council plans to provide £157,000 a year to cover the cost of running both libraries at the same level of service as it does now.

Council Roger Berry said he was glad the libraries had been saved but felt the city council was getting the county council "out of a hole" they had created themselves and asked what the benefit of 'collaborating' with the county council would bring and how it would improve the libraries.

David Blake, managing director of the city council, said: “I won’t pretend to say that we have got lots of answers. We haven’t. If we’d worked up some of the solutions or some of the projects in detail we would have put them in the report.

“All I can say at this point is that I have met with the county council leadership and the political leadership [of the city council] has met with county and there is a willingness that, now we have got this under our belt, this gives us an opportunity to sit around the table and have a more in depth discussion.

“I would look at the services we provide and see if we can make better use of these facilities. They are in the communities and who knows what opportunities that might bring in terms of working more closely with residents.”

Cllr Jo Hodges, who represents Warndon, said: “I’m sure all the people in Warndon who use the library, and were very concerned what the outcome of this consultation might have been, will be very pleased to know that we as a city council are supporting that library which, as the report says, is much more than just a library.

“It’s a meeting place for all sorts of organisations, it brings the community together and it’s a great asset to the community.”

The county council never ruled out closing libraries when it began its review but did look at whether district councils or community groups could take them over.