CARDIGAN Library will be on the move following a decision to turn down an offer of five years free rent at its current site.

Cabinet Members meeting on Tuesday agreed with a proposal to move a smaller Cardigan Library to the council's Morgan Street office.

The decision comes after the landlord of Canolfan Teifi offered Ceredigion County Council the opportunity to stay where it is with five years free rent.

A petition from Cardigan residents gained well over 800 signatures following concerns for the future of the 'essential' services provided by the library.

Elaine Evans, who began the online petition, posted on the petition page following the latest decision by Cabinet.

She said: “What was the point of the consultation if the decision was going to be taken before the results could be officially reported back to Cabinet?

“It means that Cardigan will retain a library service but that Ceredigion County Council would rather spend tens of thousands on refurbishing a building on a corner of a busy road to make a tiny library rather than take up a generous offer of five years' free rent at the current premises.”

The Council estimates it would cost between £80,000 and £90,000 to renovate the Morgan Street office so that it will be fit for purpose.

A consultation suggesting a move for Cardigan library and the closure of Llandysul library ended on January 4 and the results are yet to be fully analysed and published.

However, in a Cabinet meeting on January 12, Cllr Dafydd Edwards mentioned some of the early results.

There were two options, resulting in the loss of one or two library vans in the county.

Out of just over 400 responses, just 42 favoured option 1 and 90 favoured option 2 while 319 disagreed with the options.

During the meeting Cllr Mark Cole said: “The consultation was a complete waste of time in my view if we have already a decision.

"Why could this decision not have waited a few more weeks so responses from the consultation could have been taken into account?

"We were offered five years free rent on the building, this was not in the consultation and it has not been considered.”

Cllr Dafydd Edwards said: “It is still cheaper to Morgan Street even if we have been offered five years free rent because there would still be maintenance costs and business rates to consider.”

Cabinet members hope to give Cardigan Library a sustainable future even if the result is a reduction in size, they said.