LIBRARY staff have been sent letters telling them they could face redundancy as Government cuts bite.

The warning notices were given to 17 staff earlier this week, only ten days after Enfield Council launched a consultation on the future of the library service – which asked for opinions on closing sites.

Speculation that Ordnance Road, Bullsmoor and Enfield Highway had been earmarked for closure started in April after the Labour-run council's finance chief, Councillor Andrew Stafford, said that the council needed to look at “value for money”.

Enfield North MP Nick de Bois, who delivered a petition signed by more than 400 people to the council last month as part of his Hands Off Our Libraries campaign, said the redundancy warnings were “concerning”.

He said: “I'm very surprised to hear about these letters given that at the same time the council are holding a consultation on libraries.

“It smacks of a sham consultation and, most importantly, is very worrying for the staff that are at risk.”

Government cuts of £35 million in council funding led to a 20 per cent reduction in the service's budget when it was decided in March.

It is unclear whether the staff who received redundancy warnings are at specific libraries or hold particular posts.

In a statement, the council said: “This does not mean that all these members of staff are definitely going to be made redundant – but they are at risk of redundancy.

“The services are being restructured to provide adequate staffing in all libraries and library hours are not affected.”