BOURNEMOUTH'S new library has been branded an expensive luxury after it was revealed that it will eventually cost the public purse a staggering £66 million.

The building, at the Triangle, has won a string of awards and has trebled the number of library visitors in the town centre.

But critics are asking whether the facility - built under the government's controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI) - is too much of a burden on the council tax payer.

Central government will foot 70 per cent of the £66 million bill, which will be spread over 30 years. The figure includes the library's running costs as well as regularly updated computers for all the town's 12 libraries.

But Liberal Democrat Cllr Adrian Fudge, cabinet member for quality services and value for money, said the authority would still pay around £21 million when the building cost £12 million.

"I'm convinced personally that while the PFI might have produced a nice building and a brand new library, it's a question of at what cost," he said.

He said the council's repayments were currently £500,000 a year but would eventually rise to £1.2 million and would average £800,000 a year over 30 years.

The new building replaced the old Lansdowne Library, which would have failed to comply with new laws on access for people with disabilities. But Cllr Fudge is asking whether modernising the Lansdowne building would have been better value.

The new library project was started by Liberal Democrat councillors in the 1990s but the deal was completed under a Conservative-led council.

Cllr Bob Chapman, former Tory leader of the council, said: "Clearly there's an awful lot more going on in that library and there's been a major expansion of the library service with that new building. It's totally different from what we had at the Lansdowne."