PLANS for an impressive new library for High Wycombe are in disarray following the collapse of the town's Western Sector plans.

The new library, incorporating the best features of libraries around the UK, was an integral part of the Western Sector. The alternative now may have to be 'make do and mend' with the existing library, which would leave the town short of what the county council really wants.

The county council has £3.4 million set aside for a new library in the Western Sector to replace the one in Queen Victoria Road.

It was built in 1932 and is half the size needed and without facilities for disabled people, who cannot get up to the reference library and music room on the first floor.

The new flagship library would have been more than twice the size of the present one, with a third more books, four times as many computers and more videos and DVDs.

The number of customers using it was predicted to rise from 750,000 a year to more than a million. The huge advantage with building in the Western Sector was that the land came free.

Peter Mussett, High Wycombe Library project manager, said whether the £3.4 million could be used for a new scheme depended on the county council cabinet.

Money is tight and the new library would cost an extra £200,000 a year to run. That might lead the cabinet to the conclusion that it should try for something cheaper.

If the present library remains, £500,000 has to be spent putting in lifts, improved access and disabled loos so the library no longer breaches the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act by 2003/4.

Another plan to enlarge the library by building upwards, so increasing its size by 40 per cent, would cost £1.75 million.

Mr Mussett said the county owned sites in High Wycombe and he had looked at them, but none was realistic.

"The town centre is where we want the library to be."High Wycombe is a tremendous library town."

In April the county council asked 37,000 local people what library services they wanted. Nearly all wanted a new library and many asked for late night and Sunday opening times.

Mr Mussett said the rest of the county had a good library service. Councillors had been saying in the 1970s that a new library for High Wycombe was a priority. He became worried late last year when news broke that Great Portland Estates, the funders of the complete Western Sector scheme, might pull out. A meeting with the developers, MAB, in March convinced him that things were not going very well.

He said another blow was when MAB wanted to change plans for the library. Originally it was part of a free-standing leisure block, including a fitness studio, cafes and possibly a bookshop. The architects then said the library was going to be a first floor set up, over shops.

"We balked at that," said Mr Mussett. "We had a meeting with MAB in March where we said it was not what we wanted. "The next thing we heard was that MAB had changed the architects and we never had any serious dialogue again."

David Easson, managing director of MAB, said a library took a substantial amount of floor space.

"It's not a great generator of value and we were having to put money into the scheme," he said. He had decided when he took over at MAB that its position next to the bus station at the edge of the development was not the right one.

"It plays an important community function and we wanted it in the main scheme." He said there would have been a well designed entrance, with escalators to the first floor.He blamed GPE for discarding the prize winning architects after the company came into the project. "GPE didn't want the architects. We thought it was odd," he said.

Mr Mussett said: "The library would have been something quite outstanding and we are extremely disappointed." Margaret Dewar, county councillor with responsibility for libraries, said she did not think the new library would be built in the Western Sector. "We have waited for this for ten years and we don't want to wait any longer."

msmith@london.newsquest.co.uk