Hatfield Library will move to the town centre and the former site will be turned into a sexual health clinic under new plans.

The new space for the library will be at White Lion Square - on the former Poundworld site - and will give the library more space for events and children's activities, including a CreatorSpace to help people of all ages come together to learn and practice new skills and experience new technologies.

The old library site will then become a Herts-wide sexual health centre and will make 14,000 appointments open to attend for sexually transmitted infection testing, treatment and all forms of contraception.

The plan is with joint agreement of Herts County Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.

"We want to continue to deliver and develop new and better services at Hertfordshire Libraries for local communities to use and enjoy," Herts cabinet member for libraries Cllr Terry Douris said.

"That is why we are delighted to announce this joint initiative between our library and public health services, which will benefit Welwyn Hatfield residents by providing better access to local and improved services, while also helping with the borough council's plans to ensure that the town centre continues to thrive."

Cllr Tim Hutchings, cabinet member for Public Health, said: "We're very pleased to have the opportunity to bring this new Centre of Excellence to Hatfield.

"The central location of the current library building will be easily accessible for local residents and the new centre will offer a wide range of sexual health services and consultant expertise."

WHBC Cllr Duncan Bell, executive member for resources, believes it will lead to greater footfall for businesses.

He said: "The services offered at the library will perfectly complement the new features we're adding to White Lion Square during our improvement works. "It's a really exciting time - and with ambitious proposals in the pipeline for other key sites around the town - it's great to see our partners sharing our confidence and investing in Hatfield."

Once the library moves in the autumn, the sexual health centre will open in early 2020.