The future of Hampshire libraries is to be decided this month.

At a meeting set to be held on July 28, county bosses are expected to make  a decision over the future of the 48 libraries across the county.

As reported, under the plans up to 10 libraries could close and the remaining ones could see a 15% reduction in their opening hours. Of those ten under risk include Basingstoke's Chineham and South Ham libraries, as well as Odiham library in Hart.

Alternatively, all 48 council-run libraries could remain open but with their opening hours reduced by 25%.

The move – which sparked a campaign backed by several authors including Neil Gaiman and David Nicholls – would save Hampshire County Council £1.76m by 2021.

Cllr Seán Woodward, executive member for recreation and heritage at the county council, said the authority has now considered the feedback received during a public consultation and the recommendations will be published seven days before the meeting.

The increase in people joining the  digital library service over the past months is also set to be taken into account, Cllr Woodward said.

But he stressed that this will not change the proposals.

As reported, should the authority decide to propose a change in the libraries opening hours there will be another public consultation.

“It would be a local consultation on a library by library basis,” Cllr Woodward said.

The news comes as the county council has also confirmed that libraries across the county will re-open on July 6 following months of closure due to the pandemic.

Cllr Woodward added: “I am very grateful for the support that residents have shown during the lockdown period. We’ve seen an enormous increase in the number of people using our digital library services. Our staff have also been delivering online workshops and activities and staying in touch with our most vulnerable customers. These new and enhanced schemes offer new opportunities for people to access a wide range of library services, demonstrating a shift in the way people are using library resources. We expect this trend to continue and undoubtedly inform the proposals I will be considering on 28 July around the future of the library service.”

According to the council in the week after coronavirus lockdown restrictions were introduced, there were 200 new users to its Borrowbox account, offering downloads of audio and e-books, compared to 23 the previous week.

The libraries at risk of closure are the ones in Blackfield and Lyndhurst in the New Forest, Fair Oak Library in Fair Oak, Chineham and South Ham libraries in Basingstoke, Elson library in Gosport, Emsworth library in Havant, Horndean in East Hampshire,Lee-on-the-Solent library in Gosport and Odiham library in Hart.

Additionally, Kingsclere Community Library, Lowford Community Library, Milford-on-Sea Community Library and North Baddesley Community Library could be turned into independent community-managed libraries, meaning they will no longer be supported by the county council and will have to be run entirely by volunteers.