MORE volunteers may need to be sought to help keep Wiveliscombe’s community library open once its lease and funding runs out next year.

A working group of town councillors has been looking at the future of the library, which is coming to the end of a seven-year lease with Somerset Council.

Wiveliscombe was among a number of Somerset communities in 2018 which took over their local libraries and kept them running after the then-county council threatened a raft of closures to save money.

The working group has been discussing the idea of Wiveliscombe Town Hall Trust taking the library forward as a registered charity.

But town council vice-chairman Cllr Tim Parker said no decisions had yet been taken and the trust needed to prepare a business plan and complete due diligence by looking at financial and legal documents including the terms and conditions of staff employment.

Cllr Parker said ideas being looked at were to use more volunteers to maintain and possibly extend the library’s opening hours, which would also create more time for the librarian to conduct outreach work.

He said the town council might be able to to cover up to half of the librarian’s salary each year, and underwrite the lease of the building from the Co-op in an emergency situation only.

Cllr Parker said Somerset Council would continue to contribute £9,000 per year toward staffing costs for the next seven-year lease.

He said the town council currently paid £11,400 toward staffing costs, £3,600 for the building lease, and £4,000 per year to help cover running costs such as cleaning, electricity, building insurance, water bills, and administration.

Cllr Parker said the way forward was for the town council, the trust, and Wiveliscombe Area Partnership to get together to discuss the relevant points and then to meet with Somerset Council.