Plans to move Earby Library have been slammed as “despicable” by a councillor.

A proposal to move the library, in Coronation Hall, Cemetery Road, into the New Road Youth and Community Centre is being examined.

County council bosses have confirmed that cuts at the youth centre will begin to bite this month.

And there has also been unease after it was confirmed that the police office, in Victoria Road, will not reopen. Commenting on the library proposals, council leader Coun Geoff Driver said: “We are assessing proposals to relocate it in the community centre on New Road.

“The library’s current accommodation in the Coronation Hall is both unsuitable and inconvenient as it is 10 minutes’ walk from the centre of Earby.”

He has also confirmed that, as expected, youth services would be reduced at New Road over the coming months. But the senior youth club will still meet once weekly.

The responsibility for running the centre will pass from the county youth service to the authority's property group from the start of next month – and talks are planned with users about its future management.

Coun Driver has insisted that the county council remains committed to maintaining the New Road centre for community activities.

Reductions are planned in after-school club provisions for young people, school-based sessions and boys and girls junior youth sessions, with staff taking voluntary redundancy and redeployment.

Pendle borough councillor David Whipp, at a recent West Craven area committee meeting, accused the Tory-led county council of “taking decisions shrouded in secrecy”.

“That building (Coronation Hall) is packed full of books. To close the library and replace it with a few shelves in a new location is despicable,” he said.“It’s a massive con on the people of Earby and West Craven. For goodness sake, don’t allow it to happen.”

Police desks in Earby and Brierfield will close as part of a police restructure. The Earby office has been closed for several weeks already.