AN EIGHTH Dorset library is set to be handed over to the local community after receiving support from councillors.
A total of nine rural libraries were faced with the loss of core funding after the county council decided to review its library service in July 2011.
Portland’s Underhill Library has since closed its doors but those at Puddletown, Chickerell, Wool, Burton Bradstock, Charmouth, Colehill and Stalbridge have been handed over to the community and will be run by volunteers with support from the council.
Now the county council’s cabinet has backed a proposal by the Friends of Corfe Castle Library to take on their facility, with the handover expected to take from three to six months.
Head of community services Paul Leivers said that the particular circumstances of the building occupied by Corfe Castle would mean the council would need to pledge around £3,000 per annum of additional support to the Friends group, on top of the £5,000 package offered to all the community libraries. He added that he feels ‘positive’ about the situation.
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