A PLAN for a multi-million pound library and learning centre at a new development in Canterbury has been scrapped.

The facility was to have been the key community element of the Whitefriars retail redevelopment in the city and the KCC boasted it would be a flagship for the county.

But the cash-strapped authority says it cannot now afford the minimum £3 million needed to fit it out. The decision has come at the 11th hour as Whitefriars developer, Land Securities reached its deadline to start building work.

The proposed scheme dates back five years when the KCC Arts and Libraries Department first expressed interest in taking up an offer of space in the new Whitefriars.

The decision by the county council to pull out of the scheme so late in the process is being seen as a huge blow to the city.

Even a last ditch attempt by the city council to help finance the project was rejected by county hall.