The future of Hove Library will now be decided early next year.

A working group has been set up by Brighton and Hove City Council to help it assess whether to restore Hove library in Church Road for modern use or to move the books to Hove Town Hall.

The team includes deputy council leader Sue John and ward councillor Averil Older.

Other councillors involved are Craig Turton, David Smith, Bill Randall and David Watkins.

Officers will be headed by chief executive David Panter, museums head Jessica Rutherford, library boss Sally McMahon and a representative from the property department.

The group meetings start at the end of this month and a site visit is planned for next month.

It will look at the cost of complying with legislation for disabled people, the knock-on effects of displacing activities from the town hall, the costs of putting a cafe into the town hall and preparing consultation locally.

A council spokesman said: "The idea is to get all parties fully briefed on every aspect of the Disability Discrimination Act, the existing library and a potential move to the town hall so that they can come to a well-informed decision.

"It's hard to get away from the fact that putting a lift into Hove library would make it smaller. But if that's what members ultimately want, they are free to make that decision."

The plan is for a report to go to the policy committee in January.

Coun Older said she would like to see computers moved to the town hall so the old building could be more book-based.

The library, now almost 100 years old, was built from money donated by millionaire philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.