A COMMUNITY takeover of Highbridge Library could be on the cards if a campaign to persuade county bosses to rethink plans to close it fails.

Somerset County Council announced in December that the Market Street library was one of 20 it was considering pulling funding for.

If the authority's cabinet agrees to the move at its meeting on February 2 the library will close unless a community group takes over.

During a meeting on Monday night Burnham and Highbridge town councillors agreed to step up efforts to lobby officials at County Hall not to withdraw funding.

They want the part-time facility to open for longer than the current three days to show whether it would be viable or not.

But the town council said if the plan falls through it would be prepared to negotiate a deal to take on the £16,000 running costs with community volunteers manning the building.

Another option would be to move it to another location in the town, with the Morland Social Club touted as a possible destination.

Town clerk Eileen Shaw also revealed 5,000 people in the town would lose out if the library were to close.

An open morning on Saturday saw around 70 visitors turn up to see what is on offer at the Alpha House based facility.

Nadja McDevitt, librarian, said: “After the open morning I'm feeling a lot more optimistic that the community could take it over.”

She also said an average of ten people an hour use the library during the 13 hours it is open a week.