West Swindon library should be open before the end of summer councillors have been told.

But it may be in a different part of the Link Centre in Whitehill Way, where flash flooding has forced it to stay closed since September.

And while there won’t be a mobile service to fill the gap while the permanent facility remains closed, the borough council is looking into small pop-up libraries to fill the gap.

Councillor Daniel Adams asked the cabinet member for communities and joint working Councillor Jim Grant: “When will West Swindon library re-open?”

Councillor Grant is not the cabinet member for libraries – that responsibility lies with the cabinet member for heritage, arts and culture Councillor Marina Strinkovsky– but he was willing to answer on her behalf as she was not present at the meeting.

He said: “We are working with GLL [the social enterprise which runs the centre] and the latest word is that the problem is the wiring. It’s GLL’s responsibility to fix the wiring.

“But the plan is that the library will open in the summer and it will be in the Link Centre- but it might be in a different part.

“The library service is working closely with GLL.”

Cllr Adams expressed concern the library wouldn’t be open until the end of summer - which was corrected to ‘in the summer’ by Cllr Grant - and asked whether there were plans to fill the gap with  a mobile library service, or an alternative venue

Cllr Grant said there were no plans for an alternative venue and that the library would be in the Link Centre.

Council leader Councillor Jim Robbins added: ”The latest email from the library service is that they looked at a mobile service but it’s not feasible. It would take staff away from getting the library in the Link Centre re-opened, and it would need to use the van which supplies books to vulnerable subscribers and does the inter-library transfers – so it would affect the general level of service.

“We are looking at some small pop-up libraries however.”

Flash flooding after heavy rain in mid-September saw the Link Centre closed after water damaged the main plant room.

The council has said the library suffered more damage than the rest of the building from the flooding – which is why it remains shut while the rest of the centre, including the ice rink and swimming pool, has since re-opened.