MOBILE library facilities in East Cornwall could be stopped following proposals by Cornwall Council to cut the services.

Members of the council's Partnerships Portfolio Advisory Committee (PAC) met earlier this month to consider a range of options and recom-mendations as part of a review of customer access services, which includes libraries, one stop shops, the telephone contact centre and customer payment options.

The council hopes to create around £1.3-million savings from a review of these services as part of the 2014/15 budget.

PAC members agreed to progress proposals to remove all mobile library and mobile one stop shop services, replacing them with a range of community-based initi-atives.

The council will hold a 12-week consultation with members, town and parish councils, partners and communities. The date of the consultation is yet to be set.

The council has proposed that 50% of the current mobile library and one stop shop budget — around £150,000 — is used to fund alternative ways of delivering services to the communities affected.

The mobile library service currently visits a number of areas in East Cornwall, including Stoke Climsland Village Hall, Luckett Bridge, Latchley Bridge, Chilsworthy Chapel, St Theresa's Care Centre in Callington, Kelly Bray WI Hall, Bray Shop Chapel and the church and school in St Dominic.

It also visits The Rising Sun pub and the village hall in Harrowbarrow, Higher Metherell, Lower Metherell, Calstock Quay, Albaston, Honicombe, St Ann's Chapel, and Woodland Way and the main car park in Gunnislake.

Stoke Climsland parish clerk Louise Power said although there was only a handful of people who used the mobile library in the village, to those people it was an important service.

She said: 'There's not a huge amount of people who use it but they are people who can't get into Callington to use the main library.

'They are very pleased with the service they receive from the mobile library, and they also get books for other people in the village who are housebound.

'Children and families also use the service during the school holidays — it is a well-used service and the people who do use it would be very sad to see it go.'

Postmistress Mary Taylor regularly uses the service in Gunnislake. She said: 'I'm busy working all week so I don't have time to go to the main library. If it was stopped I would have to travel to Tavistock or Callington.

'With the mobile library I can just pop across to the car park and pick up a bundle of books. Although it has less books than a standard library, I always find good books to read. It feels like it's part of the village. I really hope they don't stop it completely, it would be a real shame.'

Cornwall Council cabinet member for partnerships Adam Paynter said: 'The council is under severe pressure to deliver services within very tight budgets. We will be undertaking a 12-week consultation on plans to cease the mobile library and mobile one stop shop service.

'We want to find ways to deliver services in a different way and will be looking at how we can use the resources available to deliver new ways of working. With partnership initiatives such as 'Pub is the Hub' which has seen mini libraries set up in pubs, and the successful home library service, we have seen how services can be made available to communities.'

Fixed libraries and one stop shops, such as in Callington, may also be affected as the council looks into reducing opening hours by about a day a week, subject to consultation with staff and unions.

Work is now in progress to identify the next steps regarding consultation on the proposal to cease mobile library and one stop shop services and the outcome of that consultation will be reported back to PAC before any final decision is taken by the cabinet.