After conjuring up fake libraries to fool the Government inspector, Lambeth Council has been accused of another magic trick - making one of London’s oldest and best libraries disappear.

The council has come under fire for its decision to leave the 110-year-old Upper Norwood Joint Library (UNJL) off a map marking the borough’s key cultural services and landmarks, even though it lies within the borough boundary.

The library - which costs Lambeth taxpayers some £200,000 a year - is independently run, and the council argues it would not be fair to market it in the same way as its other libraries - especially as the council has no input or responsibility for its policies or activities.

But in leaving it off the “Lambeth - Yours to Explore!” map on its website, critics argue the council is trying to hide it from residents.

The library’s supporters claim the council resents the independent library’s success, when its neighbour West Norwood Library costs 50 per cent more to run than the larger, and better-stocked, UNJL. Lambeth’s libraries have the lowest stock of books in London.

Conservative Gipsy Hill councillor Graham Pycock said the council’s conscious decision not to promote the library was “crackers”.

He said: “The library is a public service funded out of taxes and should be fully promoted.”

This argument is strengthened by the fact Lambeth has now accepted the library in Westow Hill as part of Lambeth's Statutory Library Provision, according to Friends of West Norwood Library.

A council spokesman said: “Lambeth is proud to support Upper Norwood Joint Library and recognises the valuable service it provides to the community. However, it is independent from Lambeth’s library service, and does not accept Lambeth library cards or accept returned books that have been borrowed from other Lambeth libraries. That’s why, so as to avoid confusion, it is promoted slightly separately from Lambeth’s libraries, with its own page on our website for example.”

The library is also partly funded by Croydon Council - which currently pay £35,000 less into the library than Lambeth. Upper Norwood residents voted in favour of equal funding for the library from Croydon at a referendum on January 12.