VOLUNTEERS in two North Yorkshire towns are steaming ahead with their plans to take over the running of their libraries.

Twenty more community-managed libraries are planned across North Yorkshire, as the county council cuts funding to meet its savings targets.

Two of those are in Norton, near Malton, and in Sherburn-in-Elmet where library groups have already been set up by volunteers keen to take on the facilities.

In Norton, they have plans for new facilities including a kitchen which would allow them to run a cafe in the future, and with the nearby Brooklyn youth centre set to close soon volunteers and county councillor Elizabeth Shields are keen to make sure there is space for young people in the new community hub at the library.

So far, 77 people have said they are interested in volunteering at Norton's community library, but the group wants to hear from more and a coffee morning will be held for anyone interested at the library on Tuesday, 20 September, between 10am and noon.

Sherburn in Elmet's library steering group is aiming to take over the library by April, and wants to develop it into a community hub.

Paul Doherty, chair of the library group, said: "It was always felt that the library was too valuable a facility not to keep it open. In 2014, the village’s quarterly newsletter surveyed facilities in the village and which ones people rated and used most. The library came top."

A separate group is working to transform the Old Girls’ School in the village into a community facility, with a café and meeting rooms, so the Sherburn in Elmet Community Trust has been formed to help the two groups work together.

They too are keen to recruit more volunteers, and any one interested should contact Dean Palmer, the library group’s community development officer, at dean.palmer@sherburninelmet-pc.gov.uk