PLANS to close the public library at Hull's KC Stadium are being opposed by councillors.
The proposal has been put forward as part of a range of money-saving measures by Hull City Council.
Under the plans, the library would close and the authority's sports development team based at the KC would move to a new base at the Isaac Newton sports centre in east Hull.
The council currently pays the Stadium Management Company (SMC) £85,000 a year in rent to operate the library and provide office space for its sports development officers, even though it owns the stadium.
It was part of the original operating agreement covering the 50-year lease deal between the council and the SMC when the stadium first opened ten years ago.
Now, councillors on the authority's Riverside area committee, which covers the KC Stadium, have voiced opposition to the library closure plan.
Councillor Colin Inglis said: "We said a saving of £15,000 a year by shutting the library when the cost per loan was on the same level as all other libraries was not worth having and so it shouldn't be closed.
"We also felt that trying to slant the debate towards lower footfall was unacceptable when that cost per transaction was the key issue."
Cllr Inglis said councillors on the area committee also believed that imminent repairs to footpaths in West Park would make it easy for people to walk to the library in the future.
If the closure is agreed, council officials say alternative library facilities on the Boulevard and Chanterlands Avenue are close enough to ensure service levels would be maintained.
But Cllr Inglis said: "We said that leaving people with the options of using the Western Library and Avenue Library as alternatives, which the officers thought reasonable, was not, in our view, reasonable as they were too far away from the Anlaby Road area."
The library moved into the stadium when it opened ten years ago alongside training facilities provided by Hull College.
Together, the new shared unit was called The Learning Zone.
Previously, the library was based in what is now the Carnegie Local History Centre in Anlaby Road.
Speaking to the Mail last month, cabinet member Councillor Terry Geraghty said it made no financial sense to maintain a presence at the stadium while continuing to pay such a high annual rent.
He claimed the recently refurbished Western Library on the Boulevard would be a perfectly adequate alternative for people living nearby.
If confirmed, the closure of the library is expected to be included in the Labour-run council's budget proposals for the coming financial year.
Another library in shared facilities at the Marfleet Health centre in Preston Road, east Hull, has also been earmarked for closure as part of the money-saving measures drawn up by the council's library service.
