Campaigners have questioned the legality of a consultation giving people "an illusion of choice" over cuts to library hours.

Haringey Council has now finished consulting on plans to cut library opening hours across the borough. 

Under proposals, six libraries - Alexandra Park, Coombes Croft, Highgate, Stroud Green and Harringay, St Ann's and Muswell Hill - would go from being closed for one day a week to being closed for three.

There are two options, One prioritises the “even distribution of available hours” and the second a “balance between need and provision”.

For libraries such as Alexandra Park, currently open 57 for hours a week, the changes could see that reduced to 29 hours or 30.5 hours. 

Former councillor Clive Carter questioned the legality of the consultation, which gave people no clear alternatives.

"Both of them involve swingeing cuts and not giving people a meaningful choice," Mr Carter said.

"It throws into doubt the lawfulness of the consultation as no alternative is offered."

Mr Carter warned smaller libraries might eventually face closure as access dwindled.

He said: "Stroud Green and Highgate are the smallest and oldest libraries and are the ones that have the least public support.

"The current consultation, in my view, is to build public support in a deceitful and artful way for closures."

He contrasted the six-figure salaries of 41 officials at Haringey, with the average wage of a library assistant, which he said is a tenth of that.

Giovanna Iozzi, a regular user of the Stroud Green and Harringey Library in Quernmore Road, said: "My gut feeling is that this is a managed decline. 

"Haringey has given us an illusion of choice when they've already voted it through. 

"If their metric is footfall, the library will get less footfall. What we are worried about is they will justify shutting it down because people aren't using it. It's horrific.

"Meanwhile they are paying their top executives a lot of money. The optics are terrible."

Cllr Emily Arkell, cabinet member for culture and leisure at Haringey Council, said: “We are not orchestrating a managed decline of our libraries.  We have invested in them and want to ensure they are sustainable moving forward in the face of unprecedented financial challenges.

“We are reviewing our opening hours, which are some of the longest in The Libraries Consortium - a group of library services for local authorities in London, Essex and Luton - but are not proposing closure of any of our libraries.  We are carrying out a consultation to get the views of our residents so we can make the best decision on how our libraries operate moving forward.

“A detailed response has been sent to Mr Carter fully addressing the points he raises making it very clear that no decision has yet been taken on library opening hours and our approach adheres to the legal principles applicable to public consultation in this country.

“We will be carefully reviewing all the responses received to the consultation to help us make the best decision and develop a sustainable library service.”