PATIENTS waiting for treatment at Addingham's new medical centre may not have to make do with a dog-eared collection of old magazines to read.

Negotiations are still on-going about the possibility of relocating Addingham Library to the new medical centre to be built on the car park at the Memorial Hall on Main Street.

At a recent meeting, Parish Council chairman Gordon Campbell said the plan to construct the medical centre was making progress.

It will be financed by a complicated private/public funding arrangement worked out by the Airedale Primary Care Trust (PCT) and involving the establishment of a brand new enabling company called a Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT). The new company will bring together the PCT the Department of Health and private finance providers.

The building would be owned by the LIFT company and all the medical services would pay rent to occupy it.

Further complications have been added to the project by the need to demolish Addingham Scout Hut to make way for the new building and parish councillors have been meeting representatives of the scouts to try and come up with alternative premises.

There has also been a move to include a new village library in the building which would provide an additional source of rent.

At the meeting, Parish Council chairman Gordon Campbell said discussions were still taking place about the inclusion of the library. He said: "Some people are in favour, some people are against the library being incorporated.

"The PCT quite like it because they will get a lot of rent but the PCT realise it will take up a lot of space - it is our job as a parish council to find out what the residents think."

Coun Campbell said the library would take up around 130 square metres in the new building.

Councillor Alan Jerome wondered if the process of moving the library from its present cramped space in Main Street would be an improvement."What better service will the library provide?" he asked. "If it is going to be closed as much as it is now, there is no point moving it from A to B. At present the library is open for just two hours at a time, four times a week,"

Coun Campbell said that a 'colossal' increase in rent could mean the library opening more but Councillor Martin Ellis argued the opposite could be true because if there was no money left in the budget to pay staff after the rent had been paid.

Councillor Sheila Hamilton pressed for the selection of books in the library to be improved. She said: "I think the library has an extremely poor selection of books and I don't think the villagers should have to put up with it."

Coun Jerome said that the poor selection of books was blamed by library bosses on the lack of space at its site below the Old School Room.

Coun Campbell said he would keep parish councillors and villagers informed if there were fresh developments in the negotiations.

The parish council's attempts to help the scouts find a new venue once their hut is demolished to make way for the medical centre may be hamstrung by rules governing local authority spending.

The parish council will have to get the full market value from the sale of the land, but how much of this can be used to help the scouts is subject to strict regulations. Parish council chairman Gordon Campbell said: "There are limits on what we can spend. I have not discussed this with the scouts yet but it may restrict the amount of money from the proceeds that we are allowed to spend helping the scouts."