WORK is to start on a £300,000 facelift for Prestwich Library by mid-March.

And Bury Council says it has worked hard to relocate the community groups that use the facility.

As reported last week, groups who currently use the exhibition room were outraged after being given just six weeks' notice to find alternative accommodation for their meetings.

Since then, the library service has discussed options with the groups and principal librarian Diana Sorrigan said solutions had been reached with most of the people affected.

She said: "The Arts Society will hopefully be the first to hold an exhibition in the new facilities in the summer and Prestwich Camera Club have agreed to relocate to the Memorial Room in the Longfield Suite. The Monday Club is quite happy to relocate to Our Lady of Grace.

"We have been working on this for more than 12 months and negotiating with the Longfield Suite for a long time in order to achieve a suitable solution."

Under the plans the exhibition room, situated on the first floor of the library, is to be turned into a new homework room and heritage museum, in conjunction with Prestwich Heritage Society.

The first floor will also be the new venue for adult education classes, which are being transferred from Thorndyke Walk, and current IT facilities will be improved.

In addition, the ground floor of the library is to be refurbished to accommodate a council information point and payments facility.

At the moment, the library and council payment counter are separate facilities but the changes are intended to improve accessibility for local residents. There will be a new staircase built in the library and a lift installed.

Mrs Sorrigan said: "We will be going back to offering the community a meeting room, but it won't be as big as before. The exhibition facility will be better lit and we will also be asking the community what else they want to see."

Mrs Sorrigan said the library was hoping to stay open as much as possible during the refurbishments, which she said is scheduled to take just over 20 weeks.