Councillor hails positive meeting as Bretton Library could be set to retain more space and be open for longer amidst Dementia Resource Centre merger
Bretton Library is set to merge with Peterborough’s Dementia Resource Centre.
Bretton ward councillor Richard Strangward has hailed positive progress in plans to merge the area’s library and the city’s Dementia Resource Centre.
Cllr Strangward was one of a number of representatives from the local community and library user groups who attended a meeting with council officers at the library on Tuesday (December 3) to discuss the plans to accommodate Bretton Library and the Dementia Resource Centre under one roof at the Cresset Centre.
Cllr Shabina Qayyum, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health, also spoke at the meeting about the council’s rationale for the merger.
At the meeting, new plans for the building’s floor space were shown, which saw an increase in floor space that the library would retain across its three floors. It was previously thought that the library would retain around 50% of its current space. The council did, however, stress that these plans could not be considered final and could still change.
When asked by the Peterborough Telegraph, the council said it was unable to publicly publish these plans as they are still being costed.
The meeting also heard that Bretton Library would be set to benefit from increased opening hours; around double the current 16 hours a week the library is available to residents.
At present the library is closed on a Tuesday and Sunday and only between 9:30am -12:30pm Mondays and Thursdays, 1:30pm to 5pm Wednesdays and Fridays and 11am to 2pm on Saturday.
The next stage for the plans are for the change of use of the building to be considered by the city’s planning committee.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Strangward said that he was still of the opinion that losing library space would be a net negative but that there have been a number of recent positive developments.
He said: “One of the positives that came out is that it is almost certainly going to be possible to open the library for much longer. Nobody wants to lose space but if we are to lose it, then the library being open more often does give users a chance to plan their groups more.
“For example, they may be able to say, we were forced to hold meetings on a Friday but maybe it’s better that we hold them on a Wednesday.
"16 hours is not a lot of hours, which doesn’t allow everybody time to come and visit the library and it has now been suggested that could be doubled.
“There is some positives that have come out of it. It is still a negative in the sense that we’re going to lose space but there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
“Nobody wants to lost space but as things are progressing, the situation is becoming more positives.
“What hasn’t helped is that some of this has been dealt with by the previous administration and passed on. The council haven’t communicated this efficiently. There has been a lot of speculation and unanswered questions and that is always the danger when it is not done correctly.
“The council will hopefully take back from this that they do need to speak to people a lot earlier.
“I am grateful to Cllr Qayyum for coming yesterday and she did a fantastic job in explaining the situation to everybody in a way that they could understand it and the reasons behind it. It is certainly a step forward.”
Residents are able to submit their comments and suggestions for the use of the space online on the city council’s planning portal as well as a physical suggestion box inside the library.
Councillor Shabina Qayyum, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health added: "The session with user groups of Bretton Library was very positive and I was grateful to be able to hear first-hand the thoughts from those in the room about our plans for the library.
"What was very clear is that there are many people who greatly value Bretton Library. It is because of this we have worked very hard to find a solution that allows us to use the site as a new base for the Dementia Resource Centre whilst retaining as much library space as possible.
"As I explained to those residents who attended the meeting, this is one of a number of difficult decisions that we have inherited since taking control of the council in May, and that we are now focussed on to achieve the best outcome for residents, whilst making sure that we can deliver a balanced budget in the new financial year.
"If we fail to do that, which is not an option, decisions around the funding of services such as libraries will be taken out of our hands which is not something any of us want."