COUNCILLORS will decide next week whether to approve plans to extend the library in Acle in order to make it more suitable for the size of the local community.

COUNCILLORS will decide next week whether to approve plans to extend the library in Acle in order to make it more suitable for the size of the local community.

The report to Norfolk County Council's Cabinet proposes that a 75-80 square metre extension to the existing 57 square metre library should be constructed, more than doubling the size of the building.

Based on 2008/09 population figures, the library is around a third of the size thought necessary to deliver a suitable service to the surrounding community. The extension would create a more modern library, with improvements including increased computer access and more opportunities to hold activities and events such as story and rhyme times for children and babies.

The extension would be timed to coincide with the creation of a children's centre on the same site, which is scheduled for completion in April next year, and both projects would be more considerably more cost effective if they were able to go ahead at the same time. If the proposal to extend the library is approved the estimated cost will be around �250,000.

Jennifer Holland, Head of Libraries at Norfolk County Council, said: “Acle Library was opened in 1990 and, although this makes it a relatively new building, this was of course before computers and the internet became such a feature of everyday life and changed the way that we access information.

“This extension would give the people of Acle and surrounding villages a more modern, easier-to-use library service and there is a great opportunity here to combine the works with the already approved children's centre and make substantial savings.”

At the meeting on Tuesday, councillors will also decide whether to approve proposed re-uses of buildings and land at former schools and pupil referral units in Norfolk.

Decisions are being sought on the future use of three sites, including the possible sale of the former site of Peterhouse First School in Gorleston.

The meeting is at 10.30am on Tuesday in the Edwards Room at County Hall in Norwich. Members of the public can attend.