Campaigners battling to keep Devon’s library service from being reorganised with reduced opening hours could be victorious as a crunch decision over their future approaches.

More than 25,500 people responded to a consultation about the future make-up of Devon’s 50-strong library network, including proposals to slash hours by nearly a third and to group libraries together in local areas.

But a report prepared for Devon County Council’s decision-making cabinet will recommend scraping the proposed grouping of libraries.

One of three options for staffed opening hours suggests no cuts to the existing 1,294 weekly hours across the county.

There are two other possible staffing hours options being proposed to the cabinet, one maintains the original proposed cut of 30 per cent, which would cost the council no extra money, or a 10 per cent reduction that would cost an extra £150,000 per year.

Keeping hours as they are could cost an extra £500,000 annually.

Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, Liberal Democrat for Torrington Rural, whose cabinet role includes overseeing libraries, said the cabinet report showed the council had “listened to the consultation responses”.

Councillors on Devon County Council’s cabinet will discuss the report at their meeting on Wednesday, May 20.

Elsewhere in the cabinet report, there is a proposal to spend £400,000 on rolling out Open Plus to more Devon libraries, which would enable access outside staffed hours.

The cash to roll the scheme out more widely came from a £200,000 Arts Council Award, match-funded by £100,000 from each of Libraries Unlimited and Devon County Council.

Plus, there could be an extra £100,000 per year for the next two years for Devon’s Book Fund, which would take the annual total to £600,000 for this financial year and next, and library fines could be made a thing of the past.

Looking at the consultation responses, the report shows that only 7 per cent of respondents said they would have been willing to use a neighbouring library if the one in their community were closed.

Such low backing suggests residents objected to the notion of grouping libraries in an area, which had been the proposal to ensure at least one library in a local area was open during normal operating hours.

This would have involved grading libraries under different classifications, which would have dictated how many staffed hours they had.

Campaigners had feared such a model would disadvantage certain members of the community, such as the elderly and vulnerable, as well as those who rely on public transport.

And with 55 per cent of the roughly 22,000 residents who expressed a view on this issue stating their dissatisfaction or strong opposition to the idea, the proposal looks set to be ditched.

Half also stated the proposal to reduce hours would impact their ability to visit their library, while 69 per cent supported the idea of open access libraries, community-managed libraries, and greater use of volunteers.

More than 6,000 respondents said they would be willing to volunteer to help keep libraries open for longer.

Councillor Cottle-Hunkin said Devon County Council wanted to “strengthen and develop” libraries to make them more resilient.

“We want them to be strong, especially given the potential challenges posed by local government reorganisation and any financial implications that could cause.”