A protest by a handful of disabled Ledbury residents outside the town library on Friday has been startlingly successful in goading Herefordshire Council into action.

Within days, and with little or no warning, the council announced that the library is to move into a portable building it plans to put on St Katherine's.

Despite its concern, the council need not fear prosecution under new disabled access laws because it can demonstrate a meaningful attempt to comply through its efforts to convert the Master's House, which is what the law requires.

The real worry is for users of Ledbury Library. The council will do very well to recreate the current facility in a portable building, a fact acknowledged by Coun Barry Ashton, who rightly fears "less rather than more".

Of even greater concern is the long-term future of the library. Once in the portable building, the only way out is for a significant investment in a new facility, such as the Master's House, and this is a council with very little money to spare.

Very shortly, readers should expect to hear exactly how parlous the council's financial position really is and the future of Ledbury Library should be judged against that backdrop.

Schemes like a new library in a converted listed building may struggle in the face of a financial crisis and the portable building, which incidently takes parking space that Ledbury simply cannot afford to lose, may be with us for a long time.

In short, the council's enthusiasm for the letter and not spirit of the law, in the interests of the minority, may end up costing everybody.