HUNDREDS of residents have demanded that their historic library stay open.
Campaigners presented a petition to Kirklees Council’s Cabinet at Huddersfield Town Hall yesterday.
Some 1,120 people signed the document demanding that Almondbury Library at Stocks Walk remains open.
The council announced plans last year for a new library, information point and children’s centre at Fussey Allotments, saying the existing village library was too small.
But many residents opposed the idea to close the present library, which was built in 1904.
Almondbury’s three Lib Dem councillors supported the plans at first.
But they performed a U-turn last month because of the strength of local opposition.
However, the councillors still want a children’s centre at the Fussey Allotments site.
Yesterday Ian Brooke and Lois Noble from Friends of Almondbury Library handed the petition to the cabinet.
Mrs Noble said: “The existing library is a well-loved and long-established part of the community.
“It’s a beautiful building which has become an integral part of Almondbury village.
“A great many residents want the present library to remain at Stocks Walk, but there is also a great deal of support for a children’s centre on the Fussey’s site.”
And Mrs Noble said that some people from outside Almondbury had supported the campaign.
She said: “Many people elsewhere in Kirklees signed the petition because they have strong views about their own historic buildings.”
Council leader Clr Robert Light thanked Mrs Noble for the petition.
He said: “I think everyone involved has been impressed by the amount of public interest in this issue.
“We want to try to find a workable solution.”
Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has leant his support to the library – which was built by Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carniegie.
