£1m children's book project rejected

Imagination Libraries in the USA provide a book each month from birth until age five to registered children in participating communities.

But each scheme needs a local sponsor to fund the cost of the books and mailing. Under the proposals the council would have sponsored the Imagination Library at a cost of 1m over three years.

Members of Calderdale's Cabinet discussed the future of the scheme and whether the council should proceed with the contract.

They say that the money it would have cost to run the project could not be justified given the current financial climate.

Calderdale's Cabinet member for children and young people's services, Olwen Jennings, said: "In many ways the Imagination Library is a good idea, but in the present financial climate we have to be very careful where the council spends its money."

She said children and their parents/carers could also be encouraged to use existing facilities, such as the Bookstart scheme.

Imagination Libraries were originally the idea of the country singing star Dolly Parton, who founded the first scheme in 1996 in her home town of Sevierville, Tennessee.