Oxfordshire County Council library plans 'torn up' (UK)

Plans to cut funding to a specific number of libraries in Oxfordshire have been "torn up", according to council leader Keith Mitchell. In November, the conservative-led administration said money for nearly half of the public libraries could be axed under budget cuts. But now Mr Mitchell has said: "We've got a little bit more money so we take a little bit more time." A consultation will begin in mid-May and run until the end of September. Mr Mitchell insisted that the word closure had only ever been used by the media and that the council had always been looking at ways to keep the libraries open. But he added that the original list of libraries set to lose their funding had gone. "We've torn up that list, we've moved on, things have changed," he said. However, he feels the current investment in the staffing is still untenable.