A town’s public library is to move into the local newspaper office for the next three years while its main home is redeveloped.

Southport Library faced a lengthy closure as a result of a £15m refurbishment, sparking a furious reaction from residents and a 7,000-signature petition.

But local weekly the Southport Visiter stepped in with an offer for the library to move into the ground floor of its offices, with its own staff moving up to the first floor.

The £109,000-a year deal has now been ratified by Sefton Council and the new temporary library will be up and running by June.

The paper’s publishers Trinity Mirror was asked to put together a proposal after site visits by council building specialists and politicians.

There will be room for a medium-sized lending service, a small reference library and IT facilities.

The Visiter and other Sefton and West Lancashire titles will continue to be published from the Tulketh Street offices, with staff moving to available first-floor facilities.

The total cost to the taxpayer will be £109,000 over the two-and-a-half year period, which will be drawn from existing council budgets.

Visiter editor Andrew Edwards said: “Sefton Council and the politicians who serve our communities deserve high praise for getting us to this position.

“We can now have a library in the heart of Southport while £15m is spent restoring the arts centre into a cultural hub for us all to be proud of.

“Advances in technology have meant that, like so many businesses, we have more space than we need. We will be delighted to share that space with the library.

“The library would be on our ground floor, giving easy access to the elderly and those with mobility issues. And there is plenty of room for most of the current facilities to transfer.”