ANOTHER £50,000 is being cut from county libraries - despite council chiefs already targeting £2.7 million of savings.

A furious Labour councillor has hit out at the move after Worcestershire County Council decided to target libraries for extra savings.

It comes at a time when opening hours are under review across the county, with centres including The Hive at risk of reductions.

Your Worcester News can reveal how the review is now nearing completion, and is expected to be finished before the end of December.

The fresh £50,000 saving requirement will kick in from April, and forms part of cash-strapped County Hall's Corporate Plan.

It has been criticised by Councillor Paul Denham, Labour's spokesman for children and families.

He said: "Our Conservative leadership signed a £20 million deal to make high speed broadband available to 90 per cent of households, mainly in rural areas.

"But almost half of residents living in social housing cannot afford even slow internet access at home, let alone high-speed broadband.

"Poorer families depends heavily on public libraries to access the internet and borrow books.

"Their children’s educational opportunities will be reduced when these cuts go ahead.

"Once again we see local Tory politicians spending our taxes looking after the wealthier areas of the county and ignoring those with greater needs, including many residents in Tolladine, Brickfields, Dines Green and Warndon."

His criticism has been rejected by the council's Conservative leadership, which has called it "fiction".

The council has already saved £2.2 million of the £2.7 million target, which needs to be met by 2016, without closing any centres.

Bosses have opted for alternatives like slashing jobs, using more volunteers and scaling down the mobile service.

Councillor Lucy Hodgson, cabinet member for localism and communities, said: "Once again the main opposition party have muddled fact and fiction.

"The council has already saved £2.2 million without closing any.

"It is no secret we live in challenging economic times, however we must stress we are proud to be able to say all our libraries remain open and are one of the most efficient library services in terms of cost throughout the country.

"In addition to the financial savings, we also refute the claim both library stock and internet access could be limited to residents.

"We have no plans to reduce internet access or for that matter, the number of computers.

"Finally, I cannot emphasise enough our passion about improving children’s literacy.

"This passion was carrier across to the fantastic success of the Summer Reading Challenge that was held in the summer throughout the county."