CONSULTATION on the future of the library service in Kirklees began yesterday, asking users for their views ahead of a planned £1.9 million budget cut.

Following the consultation by Kirklees Council a report on the future of the service will be produced and a decision is expected to be made in July.

The library service budget has already been cut by £1.8m in the last two years, and the latest changes take account of a similar level of cuts again.

This leaves the library service with a budget of £2.2m a year - less than half what it was in 2015.

The move has led to fears that branches in areas such as Cleckheaton could be under threat again.

Councillor Kath Pinnock, who represents Cleckheaton, told the Telegraph & Argus that she would be fighting any proposals to close Cleckheaton Library which is one of the busiest in the district.

A similar consultation exercise took place ahead of a decision in late 2015 by the authority to close two libraries, withdraw the mobile library service and cut the opening hours of the other 24 libraries.

The cost-cutting plans involved keeping eight full-staffed town libraries, including Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Birstall, and 16 community-supported libraries, but saw 88 full-time equivalent positions lost.

Councillor Graham Turner, Kirklees cabinet member, said: “Following our last consultation in 2015, we have seen a lot of changes within the library service, with a number of libraries now being supported by community groups and volunteers.

“This is something we could look to expand on in the future, but to do that we need to know what the people who use the service and the current hard-working volunteers think of the changes and how much support there is for more community involvement.

“We want to ensure that people can continue to enjoy the wide range of services that libraries provide in the future, and whilst there is no way of avoiding our ever-decreasing budgets we are confident that we can find a way to keep delivering a comprehensive, high-quality, modern service by considering a range of different delivery models – many of which already exist in other local authority areas.

“If you use your local library and want to share your thoughts on how it should be run in the future, please complete the questionnaire online, or alternatively paper copies are available in your local library.”

The questionnaire is available at kirklees.gov.uk/libraryconsultation.