COUNCIL bosses have had to quash rumours that a community library has been condemned.

Eccleshill Library, which is closed for a refurbishment, will reopen, Bradford Council chiefs have insisted.

But the £240,000 revamp is taking longer than expected after a steel frame holding up the roof was found to be damaged, costing an extra £10,000 to fix.

The library's reopening has now been put back from mid-February to mid-March.

The building, which lies on the border of the Eccleshill and Bolton and Undercliffe council wards, closed temporarily in November for the essential maintenance work to be carried out.

But last month, ward Councillor Howard Middleton (Lib Dem, Bolton and Undercliffe) was alarmed to read an e-mail from a council officer saying Eccleshill Library had been condemned and faced an uncertain future because it had "major structural issues".

His fears appeared to be confirmed when he then tried to arrange a councillors' surgery at the venue for May this year, only to be told it could not accept the booking.

He said: "It's a 1960s concrete building, so as with all concrete buildings, it's going to be nearly 60 years old now.

"All the concrete buildings have the same design problems in that they were built to last 30 to 40 years and they are well past that.

"The problem is, it's a very well used library, is Eccleshill."

But Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, executive member for culture, insisted the library would reopen and any suggestion it had been condemned was simply not true.

She said: "I can't say any clearer than this - he's wrong. It's going to reopen in March."

A Council spokesman added that extra workers were being brought in for the renovation, and that the opening times at Idle library were being extended while Eccleshill was closed.

She said: "The structural damage was to the steel frame which supports the roof and is not as badly damaged as originally thought. It has been rectified now."

Cllr Middleton said this news would be a reassurance to people in the area.

He said: "If the work on the building is completed in March 2015, and the prior facilities restored and re-opened for local people, this will be seen as reassurance that residents in BD2 will not be losing their library facilities in the near future."