A NEW group has been set up to help try to keep Chipping Sodbury Library open.

More than 20 people turned up to the inaugural meeting of the Friends of Chipping Sodbury Library including town and district councillors, members of Sodbury Chamber of Commerce and Sodbury and Yate Business Association and interested residents.

Organiser Cllr Rob Creer, who represents Chipping Sodbury on South Gloucestershire Council, formed the group in response to a council review as the authority tries to save £500,000 from its library budget. All of the three options in the ongoing consultation including closing the small library in Chipping Sodbury, which only costs the council £42,000 a year to keep because of a peppercorn rent agreement with Chipping Sodbury Town Lands’ Charity which owns the building on High Street.

Cllr Creer said the vision of the new friends’ group was to co-ordinate a campaign to safeguard the library service, raise awareness of the consultation which is open until May 13 and encourage more people to use the library as it currently only has 194 unique members with many people using a much bigger library in Yate as well.

The group has also pledged to consider options ‘to secure a sustainable future for the library in Chipping Sodbury’.

Cllr Creer said: “I was really pleased with the turnout which represented a wide range of the community.

"I was also impressed with people's passion and energy which was focused on the positive action that we can take.

“This is about co-ordinating our campaign and then following it up with actions. If we get the support we may be able to do something with it and make sure that the library does carry on.”

Ideas to secure the library’s future were raised at the meeting including the formation of a trust with community ownership or for volunteers to run it. Events which raise money such as author evenings and to utilise space in the basement were also considered as well as investigating raising the Sodbury Town Council precept to protect the library.

A new Facebook page, Friends of CS Library, has been set up to keep the public informed of the campaign and the group is putting together an official response to the council consultation and urging people in the town to return their own comments to the authority.

The next meeting of the group takes place in the Watkins Room of the Old Grammar School on Monday, April 25 (7pm).