LIBRARY users in the Cotswolds have something to look forward to this year with library hours returning to normal in some areas.

Moreton Library will have its hours extended from 12 to 23 after Gloucestershire County Council approved plans to share the library premises with other bodies.

It has teamed up with Cotswold Volunteers North (CVN) who will move all its services to the library which are currently located in Cotswold District Council premises.

Rod Hooper, Moreton Town Council chairman, said: “We have been pressing for this all the time – ever since they told us they were taking the library hours away from us. I just hope that they now realise that these libraries are most important to the community.”

Meanwhile Chris Butterworth, mayor of Chipping Norton, was delighted with the recent decision by Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet to keep all 43 public libraries in the county open.

Chipping Norton Library is among 22 that will remain fully staffed by council employers, while 16 will be manned equally by paid staff and volunteers.

A further five will be twothirds staffed by council workers and a third by volunteers. This is a change from the plans put forward last May, which proposed that the group of 16 libraries would only be one-third staffed by council employees.

Councillor Butterworth said: “We are pleased the library remains fully staffed as its used by a lot by residents. We were certainly concerned as a huge number of libraries were going to close. We can breath a sigh of relief now.”

Last month, Bourton library-users also benefited from a return to the original opening hours.