THERE is “no desire” for library closures in Enfield, the councillor in charge of the service has said.

Armed with the initial results of a consultation into the future of the library service, Councillor Bambos Charalambous has said he will propose that no branches in the borough are shut down.

After receiving around 1,500 responses from Enfield library users, he said: “What I picked up was there is no desire for there to be much change to the library service at the moment.

“My personal view is we shouldn't propose any change.”

Cllr Charalambous was keen to stress although he is the cabinet member in charge of libraries, the decision not to close has not yet been approved by the Labour group or Full Council.

And he warned: “If we are not going to close libraries, the money we would save will have to come out of other areas.”

The threat of closures was raised in March, when it emerged Councillor Andrew Stafford, in charge of finance, had told a residents' meeting that there “may be too many libraries” in the borough and two or three could be shut.

A cut of £1.5m to the libraries budget has been pencilled in for the next four years, but Cllr Charalambous said that may be absorbed by making better use of the libraries or by passing the cuts on to other areas of the budget.

A full review of the libraries consultation is due to be handed to cabinet in December when a final decision will be made.