LIBRARIES in Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Birstall look set to be saved from the axe - but face shorter opening hours under latest plans from Kirklees Council.

Cabinet members are being asked to approve the new library service when they meet next week, which includes keeping eight fully-staffed town libraries and 16 community supported libraries.

Two out of the district's libraries are expected to close and the mobile library service withdrawn.

The 24 libraries that remain open are however expected to suffer cuts to their opening hours of up to 40 per cent.

The moves are intended to save a total of £1.8 million and have been welcomed by those campaigning to save them.

Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox (Lab) said: !This is a great victory. It is fantastic news and a welcome relief for thousands of local people who were desperate to save their valuable community resources and vital lifelines for so many people.

"This is a great result and the right result and I am delighted that the council has listened and taken on board the concerns and feelings of my constituents."

The plan follows a four-month public consultation, a debate earlier this summer at full council and petitions containing thousands of signatures against possible closures being handed to the authority.

Councillor Graham Turner, cabinet member for resources, said the plan was the best balance between achieving the service ambitions of everybody having access to a library, and the budget demands of saving £1.8m, involving a reduction of 88 full-time equivalent members of staff in the library service.

"When we started looking at what we could deliver within our reduced budget, I wanted to make sure that we preserved as much of the service as possible and to ensure that we could provide as many access points to a library service as possible, and not embark on a wholesale closure programme. I believe with the help of volunteers and hardworking committed staff we have achieved this," he said.

"So in deciding what the future service could look like, officers used specific criteria, while the consultation sought public views on three types of library - town, community supported and community run - as well as other ways of delivering a service like book drops, home library service and transcription service."

If cabinet members agree, the closures of libraries in Thornhill Lees and Lepton will take place from April 1, 2016.

The cabinet meeting takes place on Tuesday, September 22, at Huddersfield Town Hall at 4pm.