A QUESTION mark hangs over the future funding of a Friday library service in Fishguard, after it was discussed in by the town council this month.

Fishguard and Goodwick Town Council heard that they would not need to pay the usual £11,000 to Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) to keep the library open on Fridays this year as the county council had applied for, and received, funding towards payments for services that it had not been able to deliver due to Covid-19.

This amount covered the £11,000 paid by the town council annually towards the library Friday opening, meaning that no payment will be required until February 2022.

Because of this, PCC asked the town council would consider extending the agreement to fund Friday opening by 12 months, until 2025. The current contract comes to an end in March 2024 and it is likely that Friday opening would cease without town council funding.

However, councillors were reluctant to agree.

Deputy Mayor, Sharon McCarney asked:

"Is it something that's really needed? How do we know how much it is used?"

Mayor Jackie Stokes said that Fishguard Library was open for more hours than any other library in Pembrokeshire including two that service towns with much larger populations and that a lot of libraries had much shorter hours in winter. She added that it was too early to consider extending the contract.

"My personal feeling is that we don't agree to extending at this point," she said. "We discuss it fully when the contract is coming to an end.

"Do the people of Fishguard and Goodwick want to pay £11,000 of their money to keep it open for another day?"

The mayor also questioned why the contract with PCC was entered into. With town clerk Cath Bannister saying one of the main reasons was to keep the tapestry open and to allow the community access to the IT facilities.

Councillor Chris Sturman asked if there was a mechanism to evaluate whether keeping the library open on Fridays was the value for money or if the town council was to rely on feedback from PCC.

"We don't have enough information to make a proper decision," said Mayor Stokes. "I think we should discuss renewing the contract at the appropriate time."

All councillors voted in favour of deferring the decision to a later date.