Work to start soon on new Gainsborough Library
In October last year the Big Lottery Fund agreed in principle to
provide the money to provide a better library for Gainsborough in
southeast Ipswich. Now they have approved Suffolk County Council’s
business case and plans to involve the community, so confirming the
money to build a brand new library.
The cash from the National Lottery means that Suffolk County
Council can build a new library with dedicated modern library
spaces and an enlarged and fully equipped community room. It will
also provide community spaces such as a social enterprise café,
similar to the one opened recently in Felixstowe Library. There
will be a meeting/seminar room available for local groups to hire
and a small music studio to help young people explore their
creativity and potential. Outside there will be a community garden,
dedicated vehicle entrance and car parking.
Contractors have been on site to start demolishing the present
library and replacing it with a new library on the same site.
Virtual tour of the new Gainsborough
Library Video - opens in a new window (10MB,
WMV)
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County Councillors Graham Newman and Bill
Quinton |
Gainsborough’s current library closed on Sunday 7 September
and has re-opened on Monday 15 September in temporary
accommodation in front of the Gainsborough Clinic, next door.
Opening times remain the same.
The various activities that take place in the library and its
community room will continue but will be relocated to other venues
in the local area for the duration of the building
works.
The Top Time group will be meeting at the All Hallows Church
Hall, Landseer Road and the Bookstart activities and Club
4 Teenz will be held at Landseer Play Centre on Mondays
4.00pm - 5.30pm. The Tree House, Clapgate Lane. Meeting
times will remain the same. Please see
Gainsborough library activities and events page for more
information.
Portfolio holder for adult and community services, Councillor
Graham Newman, welcomed the cash boost saying: "This grant of over
a million pounds will bring a new library for Gainsborough and
south east Ipswich. It has been designed to meet the needs of local
people and will provide a 21st century library and community space.
It will be a vibrant, landmark building to fit in with the
community it serves."
He added: "We have an excellent library service here in Suffolk
- one of the few counties in the UK where library usage is
increasing, yet our costs are amongst the lowest. We have an
ongoing programme of refurbishment and new building, and we've also
invested heavily in our Internet-connected mobile libraries. We
pride ourselves on the fact that the service is modern, accessible
to everyone and valued by the local communities that use it. If you
live in south east Ipswich, get involved and help shape how your
future library will look and how it will be run."
Anyone interested from the local community will be fully
involved throughout the project and beyond, both formally and
informally, guiding key decisions and shaping the design of the
library. Local people and organisations will also be asked to help
plan and run activities in the community areas.
Your say in your new Gainsborough Library
Planning For Real workshop - Outcomes document (Word, 48Kb)
On Saturday 27 September around 30 members of the
community, together with county council staff and partner
representatives directly working with the project met to look at
some of the key issues about the new library such as the café, use
of community spaces; library stock; the sound studio and learning
activities.
Replace or refurbish?
Following the consultation in November/December 2007 a clear
majority preferred to see the library replaced on the same site,
rather than refurbished. For details of the responses please
see
Replace or refurbish? (PDF, 86Kb)
The plans are available to see in Gainsborough Library along
with responses from the survey and the public
meeting held in December 2007.
Please do keep sending us your suggestions and comments about the
new library. We will be working with you throughout the project to
ensure it reflects what the community wants and needs in the
library.
If you are interested in being more closely involved in the
project or in the library when it re-opens, and have not
already passed on your contact details, please talk to Mandy
Grimwood, the Gainsborough Library Manager, or her
colleagues.
Lottery funding just the ticket for Suffolk library
Major improvements are on the way for Gainsborough library in
Ipswich after the Big Lottery Fund awarded £1.4m to give it a new
lease of life. The current library building is well used and
regarded but is now in urgent need of investment to ensure that it
remains a valuable community resource.
Building work will bring the library up to date and make 21st
century facilities available for the people of Gainsborough. The
improvements will mean the area has good facilities for years to
come.
Graham Newman, portfolio holder for adult and community services
at Suffolk County Council, said: "This funding is particularly
welcome because it will help improve the library service for people
in Gainsborough. The challenge now, and it is an exciting one, is
to use this £1.4m to create a 21st century library that can
continue playing a key role at the heart of the community and help
raise literacy levels. Library facilities are so important in areas
such as Gainsborough, where there are particular social and
economic challenges."
Councillor Bill Quinton who represents Gainsborough Ward, said:
"I am so very happy that at last Gainsborough will get the
library and all-round community facility that people here deserve.
Libraries are already becoming much more than just a place to
borrow books, and I want to increase the services and information
that people locally can get from the library. Well done to everyone
here who helped make the case for investment in our library. I will
do my best to see that what is built now will be what local
residents want."
Contractors are likely to be on-site in late 2008 but the
details of the scheme will be very much up to local people and
partner organisations, including local voluntary groups. The
Gainsborough successful bid is one of only a handful in the Eastern
Region, and is due largely to the fantastic involvment of local
people in arguing enthusiastically for what a new library could
offer.