Hub plans to change as library ruled out

Plans for Redditch’s new Community Hub are to change, after Redditch Borough Council’s Executive Committee voted to withdraw an invitation to Redditch Library to move into it.

The decision at last night’s (July 29) Executive meeting means the borough council will now work on bringing other tenants into the town’s developing multi-agency hub at a transforming Redditch Town Hall.

Leader of Redditch Borough Council, Cllr Joe Baker, said: “After working on this issue for two years as a key campaign pledge, and after the people of Redditch gave us a resounding mandate through the ballot box in May’s election, we can finally say that we have stopped the move that would have led to the demolition of the library. We can now get on with a more suitable community hub.”

The council will now formally notify Worcestershire County Council, the owner and operator of Redditch Library and its current building, of the decision, and work on new hub plans.

It also means the council will now work with the Redditch Town Deal Board and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to determine the most effective alternative use for the £4m of Towns Fund money previously approved for the redevelopment of the library site.

Cllr Baker added: “We want to see the Towns Fund money used to boost Redditch, not demolish a much-used community asset. Those conversations are already happening, and we look forward to working with all parties on a resolution that benefits Redditch.”

New reports on revised hub plans and the Towns Fund money are now expected before the council’s Executive Committee in September.