MOBILE LIBRARIES across South Bucks are to be scrapped under current proposals.

Residents of South Bucks are being asked to submit their views to a consultation on the plans to end the service, which Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) claims is no longer sustainable due to declining interest.

Data from BCC indicates that almost three quarters of 65 stops made by the current fleet of mobile libraries are used by less than five customers at a time. One-third of stops see no more than one customer.

The consultation asks for residents’ opinions on a number of proposed alternative services, including ‘click and collect’ schemes and online lending services.

Noel Brown, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement at BCC, said: “We know that the mobile library service is valued. But in recent years, fewer people have been using it; in the last couple of years one-third of the library service stops had only one customer. The cost of running the service has also increased to the point that it is now really no longer sustainable.

“We’d like to provide a more flexible, community-based library service that is still easily accessible for our mobile library customers, and a service that can be adapted to suit the differing needs of local communities. “We hope that as many people as possible will respond to the consultation so that together we can shape a local library service that is better for customers.”

The consultation is available online at https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/libraries/mobile-library-service-consultation/