REDDITCH LIBRARY - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REVEALS THERE NEVER WAS A PLAN

Following information acquired from an FOI request to Worcestershire County Council we are able to share further information about Redditch Library.

In reply to a question about discussions at WCC surrounding the demolition and relocation of Redditch Town Centre Library we have been told RBC have 12 months to submit a full business case "and at this point in time there have been no proposals submitted to WCC regarding the demolition and relocation of the library and the services operating within the building as these are being developed through various meeting and discussions across the organisations so no delegated officer or cabinet decisions have been made regarding this detail."

We asked about assurance for the future of the library and have been directed to the head of terms agreement which asks the Town Deal Board to "Provide assurance on what will happen to the existing library provision, where it will go and how the needs of the community to access library services will be met when the existing site is demolished.
Provide further detail on the impact of this project through inclusion of a broader range of outcomes."

This information had to be sent by August 2021, but there is no further information - and certainly no assurances- in the public domain.

This clearly indicates that there is currently no plan for the demolition and relocation of Redditch Library, which contradicts various mixed messages coming from Cllr Dormer.

On the one hand he and his group on RBC have been touting the Town Hall as the preferred option but in answer to Cllr Andy Fry at Council he said no decision had been made. WCC in the FOI answer deny any discussions have taken place?

There are 2 representatives from WCC on the Town Deal Board, but there has been no official authorisation for leader of WCC Simon Geraghty to agree to the demolition in the original bid. At the August meeting, where it was agreed that the demolition of the library should be carried forward into the final business case, there was no voting representation from WCC.

Cllr Dormer told Cllr Andy Fry that there was a "project group" within WCC but this FOI can give no information about involvement in this. Who is on the project group, and what has been discussed?

We think this demonstrates that all talks and discussions are being held behind closed doors. Concerns must be raised over the conflict of interests of Cllr Dormer in particular. He is leader of RBC, portfolio holder for Communities (inc Libraries) at WCC, and also on the Town Deal Board.

He proposed option 1 - to include the demolition of the library when the full amount of funding was not reached. It is clear that he is committed to demolition of the library despite huge public concern.

We believe that Cllr Dormer must relinquish some of his hats in order to secure a fair and balanced process.

We still need to know the response from the government to the revised project list. How can they approve payment for the demolition of the library if WCC as Library owners have not approved the plan?

Further evidence of Cllr Dormer's attempt to control and influence this appears under question 2 of library costs where FOI confirms that the town centre library is in "reasonable to good condition" - Cllr Dormer has repeatedly claimed that the building is in a serious state of disrepair.

There is no specific maintenance budget so this would suggest no ongoing or planned repair schedule. We would suggest Cllr Dormer's untruth is designed to devalue public opinion of the current library building in order to further his political agenda.

We are also concerned by the admission that there is no information on the carbon cost of the demolition / relocation. Given that both RBC and WCC have declared a climate emergency then this should be at the forefront of any such decisions.

In conclusion this FOI request confirms there is not a plan at Worcestershire County Council to demolish the Town Centre Library. We know that the building is in sound condition, and was refurbished recently.

It is a purpose built library and until there is a fully viable, fully costed plan for a relocation where no services are lost then Redditch Labour will continue to fight for transparency and openness. We must have a full public consultation, and we must demand that any changes are in the interest of the public, not at the behest of Cllr Dormer and the Conservatives political agenda.

We’re listening to residents who are very concerned about the future of their library services, so we’re calling on Worcestershire County Council to hold a full public consultation as soon as possible for local people to have their say.

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