THERE could be a short stay of execution for Darlington’s Crown Street Library, according to a council letter.

Darlington Borough Council’s chief executive, Ada Burns, wrote to campaign group Darlington for Culture (DfC) after attending a meeting about the future of the town’s library services.

If the budget proposals go ahead, Cockerton Library and the mobile library will close while the historic Crown Street Library will have its resources transferred to the Dolphin Centre.

A consultation on the plans will run until the end of May, with a final decision expected at a full council meeting scheduled for Wednesday, June 29.

Since the plans were announced, campaigners have called for more time to work on alternative proposals for the future of library services in Darlington.

The chair of DfC said today (Tuesday, Apr 12) a letter from Ada Burns marked "the first glimmer of hope".

Ms Burns’ letter said: “The longer the council waits to achieve its revenue savings, the bigger the gap grows and the more cuts will need to be identified.

“It’s not an unwillingness to engage that is driving the timescale, but the very real pressure of the revenue budget.

“The best prospect for an alternative model to be given serious consideration by the council is for it to have substance and detail.

“Such a proposal may not be fully worked up but must give council significant assurance that it has a chance of delivery.

“Should this be the case and depending on feedback in respect of the other budget proposals, council may be in a position to allow a further short period of time to finalise the proposal.”

John Dean, chair of Darlington for Culture, said: “There may be more time available which is what we wanted.

“It’s not promised and there may not be a lot of it but we see this as encouraging.

“It is down to groups like ourselves to come up with creative solutions but the council needs to be creative too.

“These ideas do not come together quickly, they are very complex and nobody would expect the council to put something like this together in six weeks.

“We’d really need at least six months but whether the council will give us that is another matter.

“This feels like the first glimmer of hope in that there is a possibility of more time and that they’re prepared to work with us seriously.”