WILDLIFE expert Chris Packham has thrown his weight behind a growing campaign to save his local library.

The TV presenter has accused council chiefs in Southampton of “betraying the trust” of the people after “draconian” cuts were announced that will see library services slashed.

Now he’s added his name to a petition to save his local service in Cobbett Road in Bitterne – and called for hours and resources to be increased instead, saying that anything else would be a “damaging mistake”.

Under the plans, Labour council bosses are proposing to cut opening times in some branches by more than 50 per cent – losing 120 hours and a total of 18 jobs as a result.

The new books budget could be slashed by £50,000 and some mobile library service stops axed. In total it would save £303,000 from the £30m cuts that need to be made by the city council.

But the plans have angered the BBC Springwatch frontman, who said: “In an age when the need for good education and strong community spirit is truly needed this insensitive, short-sighted and short-termist lunacy should be exposed for what it is – a very serious and damaging mistake.

“Like many others I significantly supplemented my education in Southampton’s libraries. I read, revised, plotted and schemed; I dreamed and devised a life in those semi-silent rooms – and now libraries are so, so much more.”

He added: “Cobbett Road Library is many things to many people of all ages and all walks of life and such draconian cuts and closures will be ruinous in so many ways.

“This place has become a real focus for a rich community of children and adults alike. We need all our libraries to be strengthened, to be better resourced and better funded, we need them open longer hours – not fewer. These proposals betray a serious shortcoming in the reasoning and priorities of those who we have elected to act in our best interests. It is a betrayal of trust and an insult to sensibility.”

Leisure boss Cllr Warwick Payne said the plan was the better of two options to save money, adding: “Cobbett Road Library is to have its hours cut under the proposals – the other option would be to close it altogether and I am not happy with that idea at all.

“The Conservatives have been trying to push this thing called Big Society, getting communities involved in helping out. We have approached the very active Friends of Cobbett Library but they do not want to run it or prop up council services – and that’s no clearer an example that what the Tories suggest is just not working.”