CALNE has won a significant battle in its struggle to keep the Carnegie library for the use of future generations.

Town and district councillors feared the historic building could be sold on the open market and were overjoyed when Wiltshire County Council's cabinet, the building's trustee, offered to sell it to the town council.

Wiltshire County Council's deputy leader Jane Scott, said: "I am happy that we are able to come to this conclusion. This is something I had wanted but thought was not legally possible. This is the right conclusion and is a win-win for Calne.

"The Carnegie library is not going to be lost to the people of Calne and the money raised will be ploughed back into the town's new library."

North Wiltshire district councillor Nancy Bryant, said: "I am delighted that the future of the Carnegie library can now be secured for local people. This is the result that the local MP, the Calne Heritage Trust, Calne Town Council and I wanted."

Mayor Elizabeth Hitchens, said: "I'm over the moon because this is exactly what the town's people wanted.

"This is no mean feat because we have been fighting for this for a number of years, ever since we found out we were going to have a new library."

American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated the building, Wiltshire's first purpose-built library, to Calne in 1904.

With the construction of Calne's new library on the site of the Harris Factory in 2000 the building was no longer required as a library and, as trustee, Wiltshire County Council's cabinet was obliged to dispose of the building in the interests of the trust.

The Charities Commission felt this would be best served by selling the library and using the proceeds to buy additional books and equipment for the new library.

To get the best value for the building it was decided it should be sold on the open market in a closed envelope bid, which meant there was a risk it could be bought by private investors.

In a bid to prevent this, Coun Bryant presented Calne MP Michael Ancram with 120 letters and a 1,863-signature petition gathered by Calne Heritage Trust requesting the Carnegie library be used as a centre by it.

Mr Ancram then wrote to the Charities Commission asking it to allow the town council to buy the Carnegie library at an agreed valuation.

The Charities Commission was so impressed by the depth of residents' feeling it examined the terms of the trust again and concluded it could be sold to the town council.

Coun Bryant, said: "There were times when I thought we had lost the Carnegie library and there was nowhere else to turn, but we fought on and now hopefully it will be preserved forever for the people of Calne."

The town council is now in negotiation with the county council's cabinet over the future of the library. If it decides to buy the building extensive refurbishment would have to be done before it could be used by the public.

If the town council buys the library Calne Heritage Centre Trust hopes to be the beneficiary. It wants to establish a heritage centre where it can tell Calne's story through a display of objects of local and historical interest. It has been searching for a permanent home since its foundation in 1994.

Heritage centre chairman Tony Trotman, said: "The trust would really like to see the building used as a heritage centre, which would be of benefit to the whole community."