VILLAGERS from West Moors will fight to keep their library open again today, arguing that it does not even deserve to be considered for closure.

More than 2,000 people have signed a petition urging councillors to remove the library, in Station Road, from the list of 20 community libraries that could be shut.

They argue that a large bequest left by former resident Daphne Harrison in 1994 means the county council would have to repay around £64,000, as laid out in a 15-year agreement.

Councillor Peter Holden, chairman of West Moors Parish council and a member of the village’s library working party, will make their case before a 15 minute debate.

Cllr Holden said: “We believe very seriously that West Moors is on the wrong list in the first instance.

“Also, through our investigations over the months, it’s clear the threatened libraries have not been given enough time or full information about the costs.

“It is difficult to forecast what we are supposed to be budgeting for.”

The council, which argues community groups could take on running any closed libraries, have given different predicted running costs, he added.

Villagers also feel that their concerns about “knock-on effects”, such as an estimated £30,000 bill from pensioners’ additional concessionary bus pass journeys to Ferndown instead, have not been answered properly. “They’ve said it is not part of the library, and that through these cuts they’re looking purely at libraries,” Cllr Holden said.

“But when you’re running an organisation you have to think about the knock-on effect within the organisation and take it all into consideration.

“The goalposts keep changing. The way they have approached the whole thing is wrong from the beginning.

“They need to buy themselves time or it’s going to get very messy.”

Information from a public consultation on the proposals to save £800,000 will be considered by the council at meetings to be held on June 20, July 6 and July 21.