Supporters of threatened libraries in Gargrave and Embsay are waiting to see whether their proposed business plans will be approved by North Yorkshire County Council.

Both communities have either submitted or are about to submit plans to the council in a bid to keep the libraries from being closed as part of savings which also include replacing the mobile library service with just one “supermobile”.

Gargrave supporters, who are pressing on after appealing to the community for business help earlier this year, are hopeful their plan will be accepted.

And in Embsay, supporters are looking at asking villagers how much they would be willing to contribute to keep the library open.

Parish councillor Hazel Chatwin said the aim was to keep the library running for the school and nursery and to also maintain a collection of basic reference books.

She was also hopeful some sort of internet facility could be maintained, but it would have to be put to the village how much residents would be willing to pay.

The council needs to cut its £7.5 million library budget over the next four years by £2.3 million.

After a three-month consultation which began at the end of last year, the council recommended continuing to staff previously threatened libraries at Ingleton and Bentham, but not in Gargrave and Embsay, where communities were offered the chance of taking them over.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: “Talks are well under way with newly-formed community steering groups, many of which are opting to build on existing library facilities to transform them into hubs for their local communities.

“The council is working with groups in both Embsay and Gargrave and supporting them in developing plans as to how the service will be retained and developed in the future.

“Communities are being offered the opportunity to take on the running of these services in partnership with the county council, and whilst we have already received some plans, there are still at least six weeks for groups to come forward with their business plans before the end of October when we can assess what progress is being made.”