Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet has approved plans to bring Bath’s Library and One Stop Shop together at the Podium.

The changes are part of an upfront investment in the combined Library and One Stop Shop that will make the service sustainable for the future and ensure local library services meet the changing way people are using libraries in the 21st century. Community engagement will now start to work up a detailed design.

B&NES says that by investing in the library service now and integrating the Council’s library and customer service, this will also save the authority almost £400,000 a year towards an overall savings target of £800,000 from the Council’s Modern Libraries programme.

The decision to keep the Library in its current home was backed by 92 per cent of residents who took part in public consultation earlier this summer. The other option put forward in the consultation was to relocate the library to Lewis House on Manvers Street.

Councillor Karen Warrington, (Conservative, Clutton), Cabinet Member for Transformation and Customer Services, said: “We consulted extensively with local people over our modernisation programme and have listened to what residents have said about their preferred location for the library and One Stop Shop in the years ahead.

“The passion of the debate shows how much our library service is valued by residents. By investing in our library service and One Stop Shop now, we can ensure this service is both sustainable for the long-term and meets the needs of modern library users in the years ahead. The next step will now be engaging with a cross-section of residents and library and One Stop Shop users on the design and layout.”

Councillor Tim Warren, Leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, added: “I’m proud that, while other Councils are closing libraries, we are investing in our library service and finding innovative ways to make this service sustainable for the long-term. Like Keynsham, we would love to see an increase in the number of users – which has to be a good thing.”

As well as modernising the service to make the service sustainable and meet the needs of today’s library users, by integrating library and customer services the Council hopes to reach more people from all ages and backgrounds – providing a place where everyone in the community can access support, knowledge, culture and events.

A total of 1,891 people responded to the public consultation, details of which were shared. The Cabinet noted the outcome of the consultation; accepted the recommendation of the Podium as the location for the central Bath integrated library and One Stop Shop and approved capital spending of £330,000 for the next phase of the programme.

It also agreed the next phase will involve the appointment of architects and a programme of user and partner engagement for detailed designs and costings.

With a location for the Library and One Stop Shop now agreed, the Council has committed to engaging with a representative cross-section of the community to assist in the design of the layout in order to ensure that it meets local needs and be successful in encouraging wider use of the facility, especially from young people, disabled people, those from more deprived backgrounds, as well as those established library users.

This cross-section of the community will also include representatives from Save Bath Library and staff groups.

It is anticipated that this phase will take place between November 2017 and May 2018.