Ground-floor library if move is abandoned
MAJOR changes would take place at Burton Library if a controversial plan to move it to the town’s Market Hall does not go ahead.
It comes as a proposal is being considered to switch the library from its current building off High Street in the town centre to the Market Hall in the Market Place, which would mean traders moving to another location.
The scheme has led to protests by campaigners who want the library to stay where it is and the hall to remain a market. The group behind the proposal, the Burton Town Deal Board, came up with the idea as part of a series of potential plans aimed at revamping the town after securing £22.8 million in Government money.
It says the market hall loses almost £60,000 a year and moving the library would bring more people into the middle of the town centre. But this proposal has led to upset among campaigners who say the current library building would be lost to development forever.
Now Staffordshire County Council has said if the plan does not go ahead it would move the entire library on to the ground floor of the current building and use the first floor to house employees from other services.
Moving the library to the market
hall would cost £8.3 million and would safeguard the future of the market hall building, says the town deal board. The ageing library building would then be opened up for new development.
The county council said it would contribute £1 million to the relocation project. If the move does not go ahead it would have to spend around £850,000 to make sure the library remains fit for purpose. A spokesman said: “If the relocation project doesn’t go ahead, then the county council will consolidate the library offer onto the ground floor of the existing library and reconfigure the first floor to house employees from other services moving to the site.
“At this point the county council would also need to carry out the maintenance backlog and recommended work to ensure it continues to be fit for purpose for at least the next 10 years (at an approximate cost of £850,000).
“These works would need to be carried out alongside the current library functions which would see disruption to the library service for a significant period due to the dual height entrance foyer.”
The campaigners claim the £8.3m for the move is an extortionate amount of money to spend. They also maintain squeezing the library into the smaller Market Hall could result in a reduced library service.
And they insist the county council, which runs library services in the county, has its own maintenance budget to spend on upgrading the library and the money to repair the current building. They believe that the Market Hall could also be used as a food venue and artisan market rather than a library.
It comes as the latest figures for the cost of running the Market Hall are set to be discussed by East Staffordshire Borough Council after it was revealed it lost the authority more than £97,000 largely due to the pandemic.
A borough council spokesperson said: “When the budget was set it was anticipated that the direct cost of the Markets Service would be a loss of £15,360, this consisted of expenditure of £202,160 and income of £186,800.
“The outturn figure was an overall loss of £113,045, including expenditure of £172,716 and income much lower than anticipated largely due to the pandemic of £59,671.”