COUNCIL Leader Matt Dormer says he is prepared to hold a public open meeting to convince residents of the benefits of moving Redditch library to the Town Hall.
The offer comes after the long awaited report into the future of the town centre library was once again delayed by Worcestershire County Council, with no date set for publication.
There has been increasing public concern over proposals to demolish the library with £4.2million of Town’s Fund money from the Government, with no plan to show where all the services and facilities currently housed in the building will go.
Both borough council Leader Councillor Matt Dormer and council chief executive Kevin Dicks have said their preferred option is to relocate library services to Redditch Town Hall.
Coun Joe Baker, leader of the Labour group on Redditch Borough Council, said: “Once again the future of our town centre library has been thrown into disarray.
“We can only hope that a major rethink on the demolition is under way and this £4.2m vanity project will be abandoned.”
However Coun Dormer said: “The sooner we are all on the same page the better, because the benefits for the people of Redditch from the move far outweigh the inconvenience from the demolition of a pile of bricks.
“Levelling up starts with people, not bricks and mortar, and we have to embrace that now and I am more than happy to organise a public meeting so people can buy into the vision.”
That vision is for a public services hub centred on the Town Hall which would not only offer a one-stop shop for services for residents, but crucially save the authority money in the light of continuing cuts to local authorities from central government.
And he added that with a new communities and libraries portfolio holder at County Hall in Coun Marcus Hart it was understandable that he would want to press the pause button while he got up to speed with issues.
The proposal to demolish the library was made by the borough’s Towns Fund Board, whose members include Coun Dormer and Redditch MP Rachel Maclean. No members of any opposition party were invited to join the Board.
In its bid to the Government for Town Deal funding, the Board said it wanted to demolish the library to create a new public space in front of the Kingfisher Centre.
Redditch Labour has pointed out that the available space for a library at the Town Hall would be seven times smaller than the current building.
However Coun Dormer said people’s book borrowing habits had changed with more now being done online.
He added the introduction of multi-use services centres was already a success in other counties and it was important Redditch moved with the times.
