Blueprints for the proposed relocation of Trowbridge Library to County Hall will be ready within months, it was revealed at a meeting last week.

Members of Trowbridge Area Board discussed the proposal at a meeting in the Civic Hall on Thursday, alongside Wiltshire Council’s workplace transformation project, which aims to save £85 million through the sale of 90 council buildings, including the current library premises in Bythesea Road.

In October, the Wiltshire Times reported how plans were being drawn up to re-locate the library in County Hall’s Mech Block, and link it with a new restaurant or canteen for staff and the public, which could be operated by a chain like coffee giant Starbucks.

But councillors at the area board expressed concern over the County Hall library plan, with some worried about a lack of car parking spaces there.

Mark Stone, office and workplace transformation programme director at Wiltshire Council, said the sell-off scheme was a “once in a lifetime opportunity”.

He said: “This is not a short project and will affect council services forever.Things should have been modernised 20 years ago.

“County Hall will hold about 1,600 people when it is fully refurbished. Parking will have to be an essential component for any plans. In three or four months time an early design will be ready.”

When asked whether the number of people using the library would go down if it was located within County Hall on the other side of the A361, Mr Stone said the numbers of people using the current library from both sides of the road were roughly equal.

Cllr Steve Oldrieve, vice chairman of the area board, said: “As for the library, whether it should be in the County Hall I don't know, but it should inspire and draw people in.

“The consultation on this should start pretty fast before we start putting pen to paper.”

The idea of moving the library into the former Town Hall at Market Place had previously been suggested.

Cllr Peter Fuller said: “Are we forgetting that we have a town hall which could be used as a library. County Hall needs to find something to put in there and we do not want to see it become a giant Wetherspoon’s.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Council said the town hall was looked at as a possible location for the library in 1983 but was ruled out following a feasibility study due to the split levels and access problems.

Under the workplace transformation plan, the council’s offices in Bradley Road, Trowbridge, will be sold-off and only four council centres will remain in Trowbridge, Chippenham, Devizes and Salisbury.