RESIDENTS of Wellington will be without a public library for nearly two months as it is relocated to allow a massive refurbishment project of its Fore Street premises.

The new unitary Somerset Council is closing the library at lunchtime on May 6 and will not open temporary premises until June 26.

The seven-week closure will allow the council to fit out the former over-60s club, opposite the town’s fire station in North Street, to accommodate a smaller, temporary library service.

The cost of modernising the Fore Street library building has rocketed by more than a third to nearly £1.3 million.

The project has twice been delayed and is now set to start in May and take 10 months to complete, with the Fore Street library re-opening in the middle of next year.

Somerset Libraries head Darren Smart said library users who had items on loan would have them automatically renewed to at least July 17 to allow extra time for their return once the temporary service in North Street had opened.

Mr Smart said any items which were already overdue before the May 6 closure would also be automatically renewed, but an overdue charge would have to be paid. 

He said reservations could not be requested from Wellington Library from April 17, but could be reserved and collected from other libraries.

The reservation service would be available again in Wellington from June 21, ready to collect after the June 26 opening.

Books could also be returned to any other Somerset library and could be renewed and return dates checked via online accounts at www.librarieswest.org.uk or by using the LibrariesWest app.

The refurbishment project will see all three floors of the Fore Street building remodelled and upgraded to make it useable at least until the 2040s.

There will be a new and accessible front entrance to the library and better access throughout, including a lift and a new internal staircase for the first and second floors.

Accessible toilet and baby changing facilities and a meeting room will be fitted on the ground floor, and as much of the building as possible will be ‘decarbonised’.

Run-down parts of the premises currently unfit to be used will be repaired to provide work space for other public services which might want to use the building.