Norfolk library officials spoke of their delight yesterday following news that work on a long-awaited new building in Wymondham is set to start next week.

WORK on Wymondham's long awaited library started this week.

The first piece of tarmac will be laid next to the town's Central Hall on Tuesday to mark the beginning of a £2m construction project.

An outline agreement between Norfolk County Council's library service and trustees of the hall was reached two years ago for a new town centre building twice the size of the current cramped library in Becket's Chapel.

Local councillor and county council leader Daniel Cox will get the project under way next week, which will begin with work to reshape the entrance to the public car park, off Back Lane

The new library, which is expected to be completed by autumn 2008, will house around 5,000 more books than the current building and will also provide more computers.

Construction comes after South Norfolk councillors agreed to release the car park land next to Central Hall, with Norfolk County Council proposing to re-lay the remaining car park using a strip of land offered by Wymondham Town Council, which will ensure that space for car parking is maximised.

Work on the car park entrance is expected to take around four weeks before contractors move to the other side of Central Hall to begin excavation for the library foundations. The hall will remain open throughout the construction.

Jennifer Holland, Norfolk County Council's head of libraries and information, said 15 sites in the Wymondham area had been investigated for a new library site and she was “absolutely delighted” that the “complicated jigsaw” was now complete.

John Gretton, cabinet member for cultural services and adult education, added: “The county council has never wavered in its commitment to providing a new library for the growing town of Wymondham although this has not been an easy path to follow.

“I am very pleased all the public bodies in Wymondham and the Central Hall Trustees have worked together so constructively to provide a site for this much needed facility.”