Peterborough councillor praises potential Dementia Centre move away from library as a 'win-win situation'
Bretton Library is set to be saved from being partitioned.
A Peterborough councillor has hailed a win-win situation for everyone as plans for Bretton Library to share a building with the city’s Dementia Resource Centre have been paused.
In November, plans were announced that would have seen the library lose up to 50% of its floor space to allow construction of a new Dementia Resource Centre inside the building. Plans even received planning approval in February but are no longer actively being pursued by the council.
The Dementia Resource Centre must find a new home as the council has placed its current building, on York Road, up for sale in a bid to reduce its property portfolio.
Bretton Library remains the city’s second most used library, behind only Central Library, and many residents protested against the decision to downsize, starting a petition against the move.
At the meeting which ultimately saw the plans for the change of use of the building approved, Bretton ward councillor Scott Warren spoke passionately against the plans.
Cllr Warren has now welcomed the news of the library being saved for the good of both those accessing dementia care as well as library users.
He said: “This is a win-win for everyone.
“We have to think about the end use and its users. We have got a great facility but one that would not be suitable for people with dementia. The proposed new venue at Paston is going to be so much better. That is a really great win for them and a really great win for us as we don’t lose the library either.
“It’s not just about saying it’s a great win for Bretton Library but the better win is for those with dementia and their families that use the centre. If you look at what that service offers, they were not going to get all of that at the library. Paston would be a much more open and pleasant space.
“We need to look at improving the library. There are things we can do to help improve the library to keep improving the resources. It is a fantastic building that is being used really well by a lot of groups. It is a real heart and hub of the community. We need to look at about how we enhance and improve that in the right way that supports the library’s values.
“We have people coming from all over the city to come and use Bretton Library and even out of the city, which is amazing.
“I want to say thank you to the residents who were there and stood up for the library and were passionate about it. We are seeing that more and more, we have showed that this is more than a library, it is a real community hub that needs to be saved.”