OFFICIALS were expecting 'Utopia' if they believed the library service could survive just on volunteers, they were told.

Parish councillor Hazel Chatwin, who three years ago helped set up in Embsay one of the first communal libraries in Craven, said: "It's unfair to expect volunteers to have the same commitment no matter how dedicated they are."

Mrs Chatwin was the driving force behind establishing a team of volunteers to run the library in the village hall, one of three community libraries in Craven.

"We started with 50 volunteers and went down to 25. It is going to be difficult sustaining the county's libraries by using volunteers."

To keep Embsay running, she had managed to get fantastic support from many villagers who subscribed to the financing of the service.

She was speaking at Craven Area Committee where Julie Blaisdale, North Yorkshire County Council assistant director, library, customer and community services, said it was proposed to establish community-run libraries at Bentham, Cross Hills, Ingleton and Settle, joining the existing community libraries at Embsay, Gargrave and Grassington.

They would be overseen by Skipton - a core library which would become the engine driving the service forward.

The new set-up would also include a hybrid level of libraries where the council would meet the cost of the premises and one member of staff. None were proposed for Craven.

She anticipated that some jobs would go - up to 40 - even though staff would be offered the chance to compete for new roles.

A £1.6 million budget had been established to pay for the changes, which were part of huge budget cuts from £7.8 million in 2010 to an expected £4.2million for 2019-20.

She cited Embsay as a model for the future. "We need the community's help - we need to encourage a broad range of people to get involved in how their library progresses in the future, " she said.

Craven Councillor Eric Jaquin (Lib Dem) spoke on behalf of Kate Taylor and Laura Steele, of Skipton, who run the not-for-profit website MooBaaKids, which gives advice to parents of children up to aged five on what activities there are in Skipton.

He said they did not believe volunteers could do the job of the professionals and feared for the future of the library service because by relying on volunteers there was no guarantee about consistent standards of service or reliable opening hours.

District and County Councillor Richard Welch (Cons) said there was a positive side in that libraries which became a feature of community hubs, could encourage volunteers because of their wider links to the community.

Members were told the new regime would not come into effect until early 2017 and that consultation was running until February 8 next year.