A NEW library and information centre is to be created for people in Birkby and Fartown.

It is one of four new libraries being built in Kirklees.

Plans have been submitted to Kirklees Council to convert and alter a canteen and kitchen at Birkby and Fartown Community Centre in Wasp Nest Road into the new library.

The library will be combined with ``one stop shop" information centres.

It is part of a project by Kirklees's regeneration committee for new libraries to serve deprived areas which are more than a mile away from a library.

The areas chosen for the new centres are: Deighton, Brackenhall and Sheepridge; Birkby and Fartown; Dalton and Rawthorpe; and Dewsbury South.

The project is set to cost £1m, with the libraries opening for 25 hours a week and will include free internet access. There will also be facilities to pay bills by cheque or credit card, facilities for checking bank balances, a free phone and mailing system for correspondence with Kirklees Council and a private interview room.

The Chestnut Centre community facility on Chestnut Street in Sheepridge looks set to house another of the one-stop shops.

Officials are still looking for a suitable location for the Dalton and Rawthorpe and Dewsbury South facilities.

Council officers will be making a decision on the Fartown plans next month.