A GWENT council leader has promised to “never ever” shut libraries while she is leading her authority.

Labour’s Mary Ann Brocklesby did say however libraries and community hub buildings could be reviewed individually to see how they could operate more “effectively and efficiently” which she said could lead to “some challenging discussions”.

She was responding to a row over claims Monmouthshire County Council had attempted to relocate Monmouth Library from the town’s Rolls Hall to smaller premises in the Shire Hall.

The Conservative opposition group claimed the council had proposed the plan in January with a paper only consultation, available only to those who attended at the library, and published just days after a cabinet member had ruled out “downgrading libraries” before “aborting” the plan.

Cllr Brocklesby said the council had never proposed moving the library or consulted on it but had run a survey which raised the move as a potential option.

She then told March 6 full council meeting: “Certainly on my watch, as libraries saved my life when I was young, we will never, ever shut libraries, we will never ever shut our hubs.

“We may, through consultation with residents, on a hub by hub basis, look at how they could be more effectively and efficiently run and to bring more people in. That may lead to some challenging discussions but the table is wide open. There has been no secret decision making.”

The council’s budget, for 2025/26, had originally proposed reducing the opening hours of hubs and libraries in Caldicot, Monmouth, Chepstow and Abergavenny but that was dropped following a consultation on the spending plans.

The Conservatives brought a motion to the full council calling for pause in plans for the “realignment of community hubs” until the public have been properly consulted.

The motion passed by one vote.