Labour councillors on Tuesday night rejected pleas to re-open closed libraries in Cricklewood, Kensal Rise or Neasden in order to provide a service to displaced library users while Willesden Library Centre is shut for redevelopment.
The Executive was considering the issue after it was successfully ‘called-in’ by Liberal Democrat councillors. The council’s overview and scrutiny committee backed the Liberal Democrats’ concerns and asked the Executive to think again.
Liberal Democrat Leader and Sudbury councillor Paul Lorber pointed out that, according to the council’s own figures, re-opening two of the three closed libraries in the south of the borough would cost less than half and as little as a third of the £2 million set aside by the council to deliver an interim service during the closure.
He said:
Re-opening closed libraries in addition to delivering a temporary service from Grange Road in Willesden is a more efficient and cost-effective way of delivering this much-needed service than hiring various premises dotted around Willesden.
It is very sad that the Labour Executive members closed their ears to the good arguments put forward by library campaigners and other concerned residents. Brent Council could achieve so much more if Labour councillors were prepared to work with local people instead of against them.
At the meeting the council’s Director of Regeneration and Major Projects said there would be three rounds of public consultation about the project, starting very soon. He was responding to criticism that just 12 residents had been consulted about the original decision in February 2011 to demolish the old and new library buildings and to redevelop the site with a new library centre and over 90 new dwellings.
Residents also expressed concern that the council and developer have been working away on plans in secret for the past 12 months.
The council has budgeted £2,000,890 for the delivery of an interim service while Willesden Library Centre is closed. This includes the cost of renting premises not owned by the council to provide study spaces.
The cost of re-opening two out of three of the closed libraries in the south of the borough is set out below. No additional rent would be payable as the council already occupies the buildings and is paying for their upkeep:
- Kensal Rise and Cricklewood – £705,420
- Cricklewood & Neasden – £870,858
- Kensal Rise and Neasden – £872,558
