CAMPAIGNERS who successfully battled to save four of Gloucestershire's libraries as well as its mobile service have announced that they will not be pursuing further legal action against the county council.

A spokesman for Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries (FoGL), which has fought a concerted campaign against cuts to the county's library services, said the decision to rule out another legal challenge was a difficult one as the group retained 'strong doubts' about the future shape of the service.

A High Court challenge by FoGL in November 2011, forced Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) to abandon its proposals to close eleven public libraries, reduce opening times at another seven and axe its mobile library service.

Ruling that GCC's plans were unlawful, His Honour Judge McKenna said the authority's decision-making amounted to 'bad government' and a 'substantive breach' of its equalities duties because it had failed to take into account the impact of removing library services from some of the county's most vulnerable groups.

Since then, GCC has held a second public consultation and drawn up a revised library strategy, which includes the transfer of seven libraries to community groups.

Councillor Mark Hawthorne, the Conservative leader of GCC, said the newly designed library service was one that the people of Gloucestershire could be proud of.

"We remain confident that community libraries will continue to play an important part both now and in the future, he said.

"For the past three months we have been talking to community groups who are keen to take over libraries within their areas.

"Business cases are now being developed and we are excited about continuing to support these groups to turn their plans for running local services into reality."

However, a spokesman for FoGL said they still had 'serious concerns' about GCC's latest library strategy. "There remains a real danger that some of our county's most vulnerable residents will lose out on access to this important and cost effective public service, which pre-cuts, cost GCC just one per cent of its annual budget," said the FoGL spokesman.

Rather than pursuing further legal action, however, the group said that its concerns would be better addressed through the Department for Media Culture and Sport.

The FoGL spokesman said the group would like "to thank everyone who has supported the FoGL campaign, both from within Gloucestershire and across the UK who have shown that people use, love and value their public libraries, and will not lose them without a fight."