LIBRARIES in Chesham and High Wycombe are to get special computers that can be used by blind and partially sighted people.

They will be installed over the next couple of years using some of a £827,000 National Lottery grant awarded to enable Buckinghamshire County Council to put more computers in libraries and improve internet access.

The money comes from the New Opportunities Fund of the National Lottery and the council is one of four local authorities in the country receiving the latest grants. The council will add a further ten per cent to the cash as its part of the deal.

The Government has christened this project The People's Network and the idea is to link every public library in the UK to the internet so that people can come in and use computers in the same way they might if they had them at home.

Bucks will be able to buy a further 273 computers to go in its 30 libraries. All libraries already have computers but some are old and unsophisticated and have been recycled from the council's own education department.

Margaret Dewar, the cabinet member for community services, is touring all county libraries to decide where the new computers will go.

She said not only could people use computers to research, learn and write, but they could also book lessons in certain libraries to teach them how to use them in the first place.

At present people have to pay to use library computer facilities, though homework for children is free. It costs £1 for half an hour on the internet and £1 for an hour on a word processor. When the new programme is rolled out access to this should be free, said Steve Howell, information manager of the county library service.