A PACKED meeting on Monday heard Wiveliscombe Town Council agree a move as a first step towards keeping the library open, in spite of some differing views.

Over 100 people turned up at the town council meeting to have their say and hear the council agree a motion to submit an ‘expression of interest’ to Somerset County Council for a Community Library Partnership (CLP) to be set up, which would save the library from closing.

The town is one of 15 places around the county where communities have been invited to form CLPs with the county council, or see their libraries close and mobile libraries replace them.

Bishops Lydeard, Nether Stowey, Porlock and Watchet have all been invited to do the same, and the deadline for submitting expressions of interest was yesterday (November 15).

“Wiveliscombe is celebrating,” Julian Mellor, chairman of the Friends of Wiveliscombe Library, told the Free Press afterwards.

“[On Monday] night 100 people turned up to make sure our town council knew how they felt, and the councillors supported them.

“We didn’t win the battle with the county council to keep the library open, but the town council and other surrounding parishes have delivered a last-minute rescue.

“The county council had deemed that if we wanted to use a library we should drive to Taunton, but that’s not good enough for a service that is a cornerstone of our culture and democracy.

“We can now look forward to the library staying in Wivey for many years to come,” he said.

Cllr Dave Mansell, a town councillor and Taunton Deane Borough councillor for Wiveliscombe and West Deane, who proposed the motion to support the Community Library Partnership, said: “There was a great turnout from our community to support the library and observe the council’s decision.

“A motion was agreed that enabled an expression of interest to be submitted, but there is still work to be done and some important questions to settle.”

Differing views were expressed by councillors at the meeting on the legal powers the council could use, and whether the town council or a community group should be responsible for the CLP. The meeting heard these would be checked further.