NEWPORT city council is to withdraw from a cross-council schools library service in a move which will save the authority £92,000 a year.

Cabinet member for young people’s services David Hando signed off a decision last week to withdraw the authority for the School’s Library Service, which sees Newport council work with Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen to raise standards in school libraries.

The scheme, which has been in place since 1996, provides resources as well as specialist advice and training for school library staff.

But the authority’s education department said it had come under significant budgetary pressures this year, leading it to withdraw from the libraries service from the end of August.

The council will replace the shared service which cost it more than £130,000 in 2009/2010 with its own in-house scheme, run by Newport Library Service.

A report by the authority’s education resources manager Mark Rowland said although the decision would save around £21,000 in the first year due to set up costs, it would save more than £92,000 from the second year onwards.

The report said that Schools Library Service was “not a front line or statutory service” and that an internal service would allow the council to make “significant” savings.

But some councillors have expressed concern about Cllr Hando’s decision, suggesting it could end up costing the council even more money.

Mr Rowland’s report said the agreement made between the four councils in 1996 meant the authority would have to meet the cost of any redundancies arising out of Newport’s decision to withdraw from the service.

Councillor Mark Whitcutt told Mr Rowland that the possible cost consequences seemed not be to fully worked out, and that there was “considerable risk in the decision”.