A HAIRDRESSER has started a campaign to stop his salon being turned into an extension to a village library.

Graham and Co hairdressers occupies a shop unit in The Village, Strensall, which is owned by the City of York Council and is next door to Strensall library.

The council is looking at extending into the salon to provide more room for the library and for new computer facilities, but business owner Graham Snowden is against the possible move.

He has started a petition headed Save Our Salon to protect his business from the chop, and has already collected 150 signatures from villagers and customers.

Mr Snowden said: "I do support libraries, but expanding them can only be justified if they are used. It's only open two hours a day and is closed on Wednesdays.

"It feels like decisions have been made and nobody wants to talk about it."

He said the first he had heard of the plans was at a ward committee meeting in Strensall and said he had not been contacted by library or property services.

Annie Mauger, York's head of library services, said a face-to-face meeting had taken place between a property manager and Mr Snowden.

She said there was a review of all York's libraries going on and the expansion into the salon was just one possibility being looked at for Strensall.

"If we want to improve services, we need more space," she said.

"We have got Government funding for computers in libraries, but we've also got a library that is too small."

She added that Strensall was a very well-used library in the hours it was open, issuing 70 books an hour on average and getting 12,000 visits a year, and ten other libraries that already had computers installed had found a very high demand for their use.

"We're also looking at a link with a housing association who are interested in developing the flats upstairs in a 'living above the shop' scheme.

"We think it would be a good opportunity to improve the library service in Strensall but no decision has been made. We are at the feasibility study stage.

"It is not the only option in Strensall. Other ideas are putting up a community building that would also house early years provision, possibly at Robert Wilkinson Primary School."

Updated: 11:30 Wednesday, October 10, 2001