THE cost of keeping the historic Hove Library open were exaggerated in a bid to force its closure, it has been claimed.

Documents seen by The Argus show the Carnegie building could be maintained for the next five years at half the £739,000 costs previously claimed by council officers.

Opposition councillors criticised the case that has been made for the closure of the 1908 library building and its relocation to an extension at Hove Museum.

Council leader Warren Morgan said that there had been “no spin” on the figures and that closing the library building was in the city's best interests.

Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth said that the council case for closure had been built on maximising costs for Hove Library and minimising upgrade costs for the Brooker museum building.

The Wish councillor said the council’s minimum library repair bill of £330,000 showed many claimed urgent repairs for the £739,000 figure being quoted were “unnecessary”.

And he said the cost of upgrading the museum could be much higher than the minimum spend of £220,000 quoted by the council.

Cllr Nemeth said Hove Library had plenty of space to accommodate museum services while the museum's Brooker Building was far better suited to flat conversion.

The council needs to sell the Carnegie building for £1 million to fund the museum extension but critics suggest a willing buyer might be hard to find because of difficulties in converting the grade II listed building into flats.

The council's risk assessment describes the likelihood of the museum extension costs overrunning as four out of five where five is almost certain.

Cllr Nemeth said: "The true cost of repairs is the first of several key pieces of information that was withheld by the Labour administration when making the case to close Hove Library.

“Making the case for closure is getting harder for them by the day."

The Brunswick councillor Ollie Sykes said £100,000 of revenue savings would be achieved without closing Hove Library while criticisms of its IT facilities were overstated as systems had only just been upgraded.

He added: “What it comes down to for residents to answer is do we want to close down this beautiful building just to save £150,000 a year?

“Some of the arguments for closing would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. We’re told that Hove Library has potentially dangerous wooden shelving.

“When you start pulling at the threads, the business case quickly unravels.”

Council leader Warren Morgan said Hove Library was the most expensive of city libraries to run and keeping it open would mean the closure of a “significant number” of community libraries.

He said that the new cultural hub had the potential to be Hove's version of Brighton's Jubilee Library, albeit on a “smaller scale”.

Cllr Morgan said: “Council officers have presented the case, we have not come into administration and said we want to close Hove Library - go and make a case for it.

“I understand why Hove councillors are speaking up for the area, but we have got to do what is best for the city.

“No one has tampered with those figures, no one has adjusted those figures, no one has put a spin on those figures, they have been independently checked.”