A PARISH council has withdrawn its bid to run a library.

Tiptree Parish Council stepped in to offer to run the village library after it came under threat of closure.

Essex County Council was looking to close 25 of its 74 branch libraries, as well as handing a further 19 to volunteers and 15 to run in partnership schemes.

However, the council changed its plans following a wave of protest by thousands of campaigners, including celebrity supporters such as Dame Jacqueline Wilson and David Walliams.

The council has instead promised not to close any libraries for another four years.

However, campaigners have described any moves to convert libraries into community facilities as ‘closure by stealth’.

Now Tiptree Parish Council has withdrawn its expression of interest to run Tiptree Library.

The parish council said it had had “limited preparedness” to run a volunteer-based library and unanimously decided to withdraw its offer.

A parish council spokesman said: “Tiptree parish councillors debated their ability to provide a community-run library in light of the announcement by Essex County Council that the Tiptree Library was no longer threatened with closure.

“The announcement that the professional librarians would be in place for the near future, at the very least, made the decision for councillors.”

A Freedom of Information request revealed there were four expressions of interest in Tiptree Library last year.

There is now just one left.

A county council spokesman said: “Tiptree Parish Council voted to withdraw its interest in Tiptree library.

“There is one other expression of interest in possibly transferring the library to community-run. Our strategy for Tiptree, as for all libraries, is to keep it open and encourage people who love it to get involved in using and supporting it.

“Come along to the Love Your Library event at Tiptree on February 15 to find out how it is celebrating science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM) in 2020.

“An expression of interest is not a proposal.

“If we receive a proposal for it to be community-run, local people will have the chance to see it, comment and get involved if they want to before any decisions are made.

“If we decide to accept the proposal we’ll provide funding, IT and professional support so it can transfer smoothly to community-run, continue to provide a quality library service and have the best chance of a successful future.

“If not, we’ll carry on running it. We’re already investing in improving library services and, like all other libraries, Tiptree has just had its public computers upgraded to Windows 10 to make them easier and safer to use.”