Claims libraries will close have been blasted as ‘disinformation’ after fears for the service’s future spread in recent weeks.

Bracknell Forest Council has plans to merge its libraries and customer services departments as part of a cost-saving drive. The plans could see volunteers take over the home library service, which delivers books to housebound people, but they don’t include closing libraries.

Yet rumours that closures were in the works apparently spread among library customers and staff during December and January. Now the councillor in charge of libraries has said the claims are ‘simply not true.’

Councillor Iskandar Jefferies said: “This is the area where we have had the most feedback and I have to say the most misinformation perhaps bordering on disinformation.

READ MORE: Pleas for Bracknell council to keep home library service running

“It is sad to report that staff in the library services have been upset with things that are simply not true, for example we are closing libraries. This is not what is being proposed.”

Councillor Jefferies said some four management jobs would be ‘deleted’ as part of the merger. But he said there would be no reduction in opening hours or front-line staff serving library users.

He said: “When I joined the council I made it clear that I would not play politics with people’s lives. I would look at the facts, I would get people’s views and I would present in a straightforward way what I believed was the right thing to do.”

The changes are included in spending and savings plans set to be voted on at a special meeting of Bracknell Forest Council on February 21.