LABOUR leaders have slammed the county council for its plan to slash opening hours at libraries across St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield.

The county council, as part of a plan to cut its annual budget by £150 million 2013/14, wants to cut library opening by 65 hours a week in the St Albans district, and 80 hours a week in Welwyn Hatfield.

Tory council leader Robert Gordon says no branches will be closed and claims his administration is "committed to libraries".

But Martin Leach, leader of the Labour group at St Albans District Council, responded: "What commitment? 

"The Tories have shut  libraries in Fleetville and the Camp in recent years. 

"This is a department were savings have already been found and we are down to the bare bones."

And his Welwyn Hatfield counterpart Kieran Thorpe said: "Libraries are an essential community service.  At a time where people may be more likely to use the service to find work and use the IT facilities on offer, cutting opening hours is the wrong decision. It shows just how undervalued a resource our libraries are in the eyes of the Conservatives at County Hall."