HAVE YOUR SAY ON LIBRARY

A PETITION containing 7,266 signatures was handed to the Mayor at a full meeting of Stockport Council on Thursday, July 15.

The petition states that the closure of the Central Library building and the transfer of the library service to Merseyway should not go ahead. The listed Carnegie building should remain as a library.

The issue has arisen because Stockport MBC has been awarded £14.5m from the Future High Streets (FHS) Fund and they plan to use the money to move the library along with other services into Merseyway.

In a statement to the councillors, a member of the group trying to keep the library building and the library service intact noted that a Freedom of Information request to see the full business case for the Future High Streets bid has been refused; other requests have been not answered in detail or simply ignored, which is actually against the law.

There are also rumours the FHS money may be at risk if the library service does not move, even though cabinet members have said that the process will be consultation-led.

More confusion, that has not been publicly clarified.

The report from CBRE, the managers of Merseyway, on alternate uses of the Central Library building should have been completed before the consultation started, but it is still not available and so far there is no mention of how the library building could be upgraded.

Many towns who cherish their heritage listed libraries including Manchester, of course, have done this - with a resulting increase in footfall.

A phased consultation open at the moment is part of a complex and unclear process described by some councillors as “lacking transparency”, “a PR exercise”, “disingenuous” and “the death of Central Library by stealth”.

There is no information of how phase one of the process will be assessed to progress - or not - to phase two. There are no scrutiny or council meetings planned to hold anyone to account. If you also have concerns about the loss of another heritage building that has been Stockport’s Central Library for over 100 and has the potential for redesign and refurbishment, please complete the consultation.

See ‘Save Stockport’s Historic Central Library’ on Facebook for ideas.

Alternatively you can pick up paper copies of the consultation in libraries. Deborah Hind, on behalf of Stockport United Against Austerity (Save Stockport’s Historic Central Library) Bramhall Lane South, Stockport