'Key' library vote welcomed

A vote for Redditch Library to become the next service to be provided out of Redditch’s new town centre community hub has been welcomed as key by the Leader of Redditch Borough Council.

The Cabinet of Worcestershire County Council, which operates the library service, endorsed proposals to move the service subject to contract today (July 20).

The library service was invited to join Redditch Borough Council, the NHS, and other providers at the new hub, which is taking shape at a transforming Redditch Town Hall under work by local public bodies to improve services.

Over £4m in funding to regenerate the site the library would leave behind if it moved, into a new ‘town square’ plaza development, was secured under Redditch’s £15.6m Town Deal in 2021.

Cllr Matt Dormer, Leader of Redditch Borough Council, said: “Today’s decision by the county council’s cabinet is a welcome one as it is key step. Not just towards Redditch Library joining the expanding community hub, where it can take pride of place, but also to unlock the potential to breathe new life into the town centre which it needs and deserves.

“By working together like this we can provide even better services more sustainably to people in Redditch and the community, and put this unprecedented Town Deal investment we have secured for Redditch to work.”

The library would occupy the hub’s East wing, facing the NHS services that are nearing completion in the opposite West wing. Subject to contract Citizens Advice and Cranstoun would also be in the building alongside Redditch Borough Council, and more services could yet follow.

It’s part of long-term strategic collaborations on services and premises by local public bodies across Redditch, which run alongside the Town Improvement Plan that in 2021 secured Town Deal funding to regenerate key sites.

Amongst other proposals, that plan included a Digital Manufacturing Innovation Centre for the site of the police station, once the service had moved to a shared ‘blue light’ complex with fire and rescue, and a new plaza and commercial development at the site of the library, once it had moved to a proposed hub.