Monmouthshire County Council has assured residents that plans to merge one stop shops and local libraries will not result in a 'one size fits all operation' for the county's towns.

A meeting of the cabinet held last week discussed proposals for the restructure of the council's enterprise directorate, which includes plans to create new community hubs to will replace both libraries and one stop shops enabling the council to save money by reducing staff levels.

As a result of the pressure on local authority budgets the enterprise directorate has been called on to consolidate its management and relevant staffing structures in order to deliver the 'significant challenges' faced, as well as identifying savings amounting to 20 per cent of its existing budget.

As part of this, it proposes to reduce the staffing levels and increase the productivity of the two separate entities by merging them into one central community hub.

Councillor Giles Howard, however, raised concerns saying that while he 'generally' supported the restructure plans he was worried that each hub would be identical and not tailored to each individual part of Monmouthshire.

Councillor Howard said Abergavenny was an area with a large rural hinterland, which had very different needs from that of Caldicot, and he expressed concern that the staffing structures for each town would be identical.

These concerns were alleviated by Debra Hill Howells, head of community led delivery for Monmouthshire County Council, who explained that there was no 'one size fits all' solution, and that there were differences in staffing roles that would be tailor made to each hub.

She said that each area's community and the current workers in the one stop shops and libraries had been consulted and that there would be more consultations once the proposals were officially approved to ensure that each community hub was fit for purpose.

These comments were supported by Councillor Bob Greenland, cabinet member with responsibility for leisure and tourism who said that each hub would be fit for purpose and that a lot of ground work had already been undertaken to find out what each community needed and required from these services.

Kellie Beirne chief officer for regeneration and culture also said that the council's acquisition of Gilwern Library would give the Abergavenny hinterland an extra presence in the rural community.

She said that despite a reduction in staffing, the council was in the process of changing its ways of working through various partnerships and by utilising volunteers and community education.

It was also confirmed that there will be a community hub in Usk, and that library service would be delivered from the Maryport Street venue along with the Youth Service and Community Education.

Concerns about the loss of around 13 jobs were raised by Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, and Councillor Greenland explained that while it was never an 'ideal situation' to cut jobs, action had to be taken for the good of the county as a whole to deal with the current economic pressures.

In Abergavenny, which has long been promised a new library on the former cattle market site concerns were expressed that the new proposals could bring about a change of plans.

The Chairman of the Friends of Abergavenny Library has spoken out about the proposed loss of staff and the present Carnegie Library itself in an open letter to MP David Davies.

He said, "A merger will incur a reduction in library staff which will translate to service provision.

"The other, very distressing issue is the likely loss of the Carnegie building itself, or being palmed off with a dual service in the same building, already not fit for purpose in its current endowment."

However the council has said that the plans for Abergavenny are yet to be established, and it is doing all it can to merge the services in a way that will preserve both services, though no comment was made on the preservation of the current library.

The council also stressed there are no plans to 'release the town hall' asset regardless of whether the One Stop Shop service remains within the building.

Cabinet agreed to commence the consultation process for the proposed management and staff restructures for the enterprise directorate and agreed that any changes to these plans needed to produce the savings required could be approved by the chief officer in consultation with relevant cabinet members.

If this is successful, a decision will be made to implement this on January 31.