DOZENS of community groups have offered to take over libraries to stop them closing.

Essex County Council revealed 40 expressions of interest were received from groups offering to take over the running of some of the county’s libraries.

Councillor Susan Barker, cabinet Member for customer and corporate services, said: “As the consultation into what library services could look like in the future has now closed, I would like to thank everybody who has taken the time to have their say.

“We have been encouraged by the overwhelming response to the consultation, it’s sparked a great deal of interest and debate, and I'm really pleased with some of the ideas coming through.

"Concerns have been raised too and these will all be considered before a final strategy is drawn up later this year.

“I am also encouraged by the number of community groups that have come forward who are interested in running community managed library services. Even though the consultation has now closed, expressions of interest can still be submitted up until June.

“Now the consultation has closed, all of the responses will be analysed and a report will be produced on the Future Library Strategy that will be presented to Cabinet later this year

“Again, I thank everyone for their feedback during the consultation. We want to create a library service with a wider appeal, which is more relevant to and a better fit with people's lives. I hope that together, we can we can achieve this.”

More than 30,000 people signed petitions, the council received 19,230 consultation responses and 40 groups put in “expressions of interest”

The draft proposal is that 25 out of the 74 Essex County Council run libraries would close.

These were marked as tier four libraries.

These libraries included Vange and Fryerns libraries in Basildon.

19 other libraries marked as tier three in the draft, including Hockley Library, could also close if proposals go ahead.

However these could also be saved if community volunteers can take them over.

A decision will be made later this year.