Wirral Council's plan to close 11 libraries as part of a cuts package designed to save £20m has moved forward.

Pensby Library and ten others are up for the axe, while five more will remain open but unstaffed under the plan.

Just eight in total will remain open with staff.

The proposals are being made after two damning government reports, published last November, criticised Wirral Council for failing to make tough financial decisions and said it needs to spend less on leisure services.

Last night's meeting of the local authority's tourism and leisure committee passed a move to send its plans for libraries out to the public for consultation, with decisions on the future of individual libraries to be made after May's local elections.

In a show of the strength of feeling on this issue, a petition to save Hoylake Library has gained 904 signatures on the website change.org at the time of writing.

One of the petitioners, Helen van Marle, said: "This library is vital for the residents of Hoylake. It has been a huge part of this community for as long as I can remember and it still is.

"Not everyone is able to get to West Kirby. Don't take away everything that we have, books and learning will always be needed and we love our local library."

At yesterday's meeting, Andrew McCartan, the council's assistant director for leisure, libraries and customer engagement, said maintaining 24 libraries is "unsustainable" from a financial and service perspective, and an outlier compared to Wirral's nearest neighbours.

Mr McCartan said the plan being put forward had been developed over a long period and was based on need, rather than being a direct result of the budget process.

Cllr Helen Cameron, the Conservative chair of the committee, said she sympathises with library volunteers and added that the committee will scrutinise the council's vision for the library service going forward.

Liberal Democrat Allan Brame said Wirral was "over provided" in terms of libraries and also thought the current amount of libraries was "unsustainable".

Cllr Brame said demand has fallen over the last decade and there was no sign that this pattern was going to change.

Cllr Jenny Johnson, a Conservative, wanted to know what the council could do to support residents interested in taking over their local library through a community asset transfer.

Mr McCartan said the council will consider each request for a community asset transfer and do the due diligence required.

Green Party group leader, Cllr Pat Cleary, said that although some libraries may only be used by a small number of people they can be "life changing" for them, giving the example of an A-Level student who may need to use their local library as they have no other quiet place to study.

He added that the council has to support communities who want to explore a community asset transfer and that the authority needs to be proactive and possibly offer financial support to those who want to look at this option.

The 11 libraries at risk of closure:

Bromborough

Higher Bebington

Irby

Pensby

Rock Ferry

Woodchurch

The eight to remain open:

Birkenhead Central

Wallasey Central

Eastham

Upton

Beechwood (shared with a 'community asset')

St James (sharing with the St James Centre)