Jubilant campaigners are celebrating after a popular branch library threatened with closure escaped the axe.
Residents were outraged when cash-strapped Southend Council said Southchurch Library, in Lifstan Way, would have to shut its doors to save cash.
However, mass protests by locals during the weekend forced members to back down and take the library off the list of projected cuts.
Now the £50,000 which would have been saved by the closure will be taken from the council's corporate initiatives fund, which supports small scale projects like firework displays.
Delighted Sharon Freshwater, manager at Southchurch Library, was overjoyed.
She said: "This is really wonderful news. There is really nothing I can say except a big thank you to all the councillors and the community who supported us so massively."
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