Moray Council have been urged to postpone their plans to close the Cafe facilities at Elgin Library and the Forres Community Centre.
The local authority have been seeking bids from within the community to run the facilities, which have fallen victim to cash-saving measures. A third Cafe, at the Elgin Community Centre, will remain open after attracting an offer to take over the facility.
Should there be no bids to take on the Elgin and Forres facilities they will close at the end of May – but Moray’s MSP, Richard Lochhead, has now written to the Council asking for more time.
The MSP’s intervention came after he received appeals from constituents concerned that they were about to lose the popular cafes.
Mr Lochhead said: “Both are very popular and I would now urge people in Moray to consider whether they could make something from these opportunities.
“I am urging the council to consider any last-minute bids to run the facilities before they are closed and consider extending the deadline to have a final push to attract someone to operate them.”
Moray Council have said that every effort would be made to find jobs for staff currently employed at the facilities elsewhere in the local authority, but Mr Lochhead insists that they would be a sad loss to the community.
He said: “The cafe staff work hard for their customers and the closures will be a loss to the members of the public who enjoy using them.
“Both cafes are next to popular parks, giving them a very positive location benefit – and I can only see this increasing in the future.”