The campaign to save Golcar Library is bringing unity among political rivals.

The three ward councillors say they will unite after initially forming different groups with the same aim – to save Golcar Library and its services.

A break-away came after Labour councillor Hilary Richards organised a meeting in July when Kirklees Council announced it needed to scale back funding for library services.

It was attended by fellow ward councillors, Liberal Democrats Andrew Marchington and Christine Iredale, who felt it was a Labour-led campaign.

They had separate plans to contact up to 300 people who expressed an interest in saving the library.

Now Clr Marchington has offered an olive branch and confirmed they will direct people to the meetings already organised and hope Clr Richards will involve them more in the campaign.

Clr Richards said: “When I knew what the situation would be with the libraries I wanted to get something off the ground quickly. It was obvious that if we as a community did nothing we would lose the library.

“I am willing to work with anyone who wants to save our library.

“The community in Golcar has expressed a willingness to get involved, and that’s on top of all the lovely things they do from running the church, the museum and Golcar Lily Day and other events.

“Nobody is excluded from getting involved.

“I made promises to the community that I would do all I can to save the library.”

Clr Marchington said: “We will be contacting the people who have expressed a wish to us to help out and make sure they know about the meetings.

“All three councillors need to be involved. If we’re going to get the best out of the village all three of us need to work together.”

He said the starting point was to rally supporters to attend the meetings and form a Friends group.

“We need to look at whether its feasible to run the library service, the costs and running of it, and then what service we can offer, whether it’s opening it on an evening or Saturday morning,” he added.

A Steering Group aiming to take on the service will meet at the library on October 22 (6.30pm) and a Volunteer Group will meet at 5pm on November 3.