WORK has started on a long-awaited public library in Highworth.

The £3.5 million redevelopment scheme will provide residents with a supermarket and library complex in Brewery Street.

Foundation work is currently underway at the Burgage site and construction on the steel framework will start next month.

The scheme will create a 10,000 square feet Co-op store with 80 parking spaces and a state of the art library to replace the existing temporary building.

The project is due to be completed by next summer.

Bob Burlton, chief executive of Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op said: "We are pleased to have made a tangible start on this exciting project and to tidy up the site that had become quite a danger."

The construction of the complex marks the end of a long campaign to give the town its own permanent library.

More than 400 people turned up for a public meeting at Highworth School into the plans.

And Highworth-based writer Margaret Bacon was among those to speak in favour of the plan.

She said: "For many years Highworth has striven to have a permanent library to replace the temporary one and the problem has always been lack of a suitable place to build it. I believe a library should be at the centre of a community and at its heart."

The development, which is in the Highworth conservation area, has been designed using traditional materials to comply with modern building regulations.

It will incorporate a pedestrian link to the town centre.