Town council could save Worle Library
Weston-super-Mare Town Council is considering a plan to save Worle Library
Weston-super-Mare Town Council is set to vote on a plan to save a local library which is set to close.
Worle Library was axed by North Somerset Council as part of a 20% cut to its spending on libraries and due to unaffordable repairs being needed at the building. But now Weston-super-Mare Town Council could take over running of the library.
Catherine Gibbons, Labour councillor for the Milton ward on both the town council and North Somerset Council, is bringing a motion about the library before the town council’s meeting on Monday June 29. It calls on the town council to explore the feasibility of taking on the library as a community library.
Ms Gibbons said in a post on Facebook: “This motion is not about starting the conversation again. It is about recognising everything local people have already told us and ensuring that Weston Town Council is ready to play its part in helping deliver a sustainable community library for Worle.”
Local author Nick Smart wrote his book in Worle Library and has been a major voice in the campaign to save the place. He wrote on Facebook: “Whatever happens on Monday, I’m proud of what this community has already achieved together. But I also genuinely believe this is a moment where we can choose to do something positive and lasting for Worle.”
He said: “We’ve also now identified a potential new venue, and there is a real, workable opportunity for a community library model that keeps this vital service in Worle. I’ve been proud to have the backing of our MP, Dan Aldridge, and I’m grateful to everyone who has supported the campaign so far.”
North Somerset Council voted to axed funding for both Worle Library and Winscombe Library in February, but to keep Pill Library open. It was the most popular option in a consultation which said that at least two of the three had to close as part of council plans to cut £433k from its libraries budget. Pill’s local councillor Jenna Ho Marris (Green) warned at the time that the council was “pitting one community against the other.”
The closure of Worle Library was planned to come into effect on September 7, but the council said at the time it would look at “alternative provision in Worle,” which could include Weston-super-Mare Town Council running a community library.
Weston-super-Mare Town Council meets at 7pm on Monday 29 June in Weston-super-Mare Town Hall.