Campaigners in Mirfield are working on plans to save the town’s library.

A public meeting was held this week aimed at setting up a Friends of Mirfield Library.

The meeting, organised by the town’s three Tory councillors, was called after Kirklees Council announced that all but two main libraries were under threat due to budget cuts.

The council faces £150 million of cuts and is set to axe all but Huddersfield and Dewsbury libraries.

Clr Kath Taylor, who chaired the meeting, said the library staff had been inundated with questions about the library’s future so councillors decided to organise a meeting.

“The first we, as ward councillors, knew about the threat to Mirfield Library was when we read about it in the Examiner,” she said.

“People wanted to know what was happening so rather than wait until when, or if, the axe falls we decided to be pro-active.”

Around 40 people attended the meeting at Trinity Methodist Church to hear from chief librarian Carol Stump and area manager for North Kirklees, Alison Peaden.

Also at the meeting were Mirfield district councillors Vivien Lees-Hamilton and Martyn Bolt and town councillors James Taylor, David Pinder and Janet Hirst.

Clr Taylor said the meeting revealed some startling facts about the costs of running Mirfield Library, based at Eastthorpe Lodge in Huddersfield Road in the town centre.

She said running costs for the building were £33,000 a year – though it was not clear whether that included business rates as well – while staffing costs were £85,000 alone.

Clr Taylor said she understood there were no qualified librarians at Mirfield and the library was staffed by two full-time and two part-time ‘customer service officers’.

The meeting was told that if a Friends group was set up there were funds that could be applied for.

The meeting was also told that Mirfield Library was the fifth busiest in Kirklees for books, seventh busiest for enquiries and eleventh busiest for computer usage.

Clr Taylor added: “It was said that the library didn’t have to remain in the library but we don’t have any other suitable public buildings in Mirfield. The only one probably big enough would be St Paul’s Church.”

Clr Taylor had a show of hands over who was willing to help and 10 volunteers put their names forward.

These included two retired librarians and a current library volunteer.

“It was a good meeting and we were very encouraged,” said Clr Taylor. “We will see where we go from here.”