LIBRARY users in Mere have been left fuming over a lack of consultation over the future of the service.

Parish council chairman Eric Mitchell said councillors had not been informed of Wiltshire Council’s plans to change Mere’s library hours.

In November last year, the parish was told by a council official that, although a review was being undertaken, it was thought Mere’s service would remain the same and the council had not been informed of any change to those plans.

Residents were only made aware of the proposed reduction of hours from 45 a week to 14 when they read about them in the Journal, he said.

Wiltshire Council later relented and said the service would operate for 31 hours a week, but residents’ celebrations were cut short when they were told this would consist of 17 hours of library staffing and 14 hours of volunteer staffing.

They were also warned this is likely to be reduced in the longer term and villagers are concerned there may not be enough volunteers able to help out.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Council said the consultation is available for the public to view on the Wiltshire Council website and that the cuts to Mere library opening hours are part of a larger library service review in Wiltshire.