Well done to councillor Harry Saville forr demanding a u-turn on Llandudno library move!

 

This is a lovely Library and right in the heart of town, why on earth do they want to stick the library in that awful carbuncle of a building that is venu cymru.

The sad thing about this is that the council will just ignore the objections and pleas, and do it anyway! 

Our money, our community, but not our wishes.

Llandudno councillor Harry Saville is urging Conwy County Council to rethink plans to  move the town’s  library on Mostyn Street to Venue Cymru.

He is also urging residents to sign a new petition opposing the move, despite the failure of a  1,800-signature petition to halt the council’s plans.

As it stands, the library will switch to Venue Cymru in the spring of 2027, after the  UK Government committed £20 million to upgrade the theatre and concert venue.

The council previously said the funding “wasn’t reliant upon the library moving”. Nevertheless the authority believed the business plan “was much stronger with the library included”.

The council says the new library at Venue Cymru will “deliver integrated cultural services and provide a fully accessible library, developed with modern users in mind”.

A prior public consultation however showed that; 764 (76%) of 1,001 residents felt  that moving the library would make it harder to access.

The same survey showed 746 residents would use the library less if the move went ahead and 633 of those asked said their spend on the high street would decrease.

Despite these findings, the council cabinet pressed ahead with the move last year.

Conwy county councillor Harry Saville, Gogarth ward Pic: Conwy CBC (clear for use by all partners)

Cllr Harry Saville insisted the relocation could damage the town’s high street and accessibility and leave an empty building on the main shopping street.

Please sign the Petition here...https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/26468220.councillor-calls-u-turn-llandudno-library-move/

He said: “The (previous) petition has already shown that there is still a lot of appetite amongst local residents for Conwy County Borough Council to rethink their plan to close Llandudno’s town centre library and deliver library services from Venue Cymru instead.

“There are a number of questions that remain unanswered from last year when the council made the decision to close the library from spring next year.

“Why were the public told that moving library services to Venue Cymru would make them more accessible, when the council’s own equality impact assessment suggests they’ll be harder to access for people with mobility challenges and people using public transport?

“Why were the public told that there’d almost certainly be a new use found for the current library building on Mostyn Street, yet a year later nothing has been announced?

“There clearly should be a rethink, and there’s no reason that the decision can’t be looked at again.

“It was only a couple of years ago when councillors forced a rethink of a decision to close and sell off public toilets across the borough. And residents recently put a stop to plans to build flats on Maelgwyn Road Car Park, next to Gloddaeth Avenue.”

He added: “So I’d ask everyone who wants our library to remain in the town centre to sign the petition.”

Bangor Conwy Môn MS Janet Finch-Saunders questioned the point of the public consultation.

She said: “Too often the council goes directly against the wishes of those who have answered the consultation process, but the answer hasn’t been what they wanted. It makes a mockery and a farce to call it a consultation process, and then to go directly against the wishes of the very council taxpayers who pay their wages.”

The council believes moving to Venue Cymru will enable longer opening hours. The ground floor location of the new library will improve access for people with disabilities, limited mobility, or parents,  guardians with prams.

Venue Cymru also has an  on-site car park and a bus stop right by the car park. The council believes, as a result, that the new location would be more convenient for even more residents to reach the site. The move into a co-located building will save money for council taxpayers, including rent, the council has said.

The petition can be found here: https://www.harrysaville.org.uk/petition-u-turn-llandudno-library

From.....https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/26468220.councillor-calls-u-turn-llandudno-library-move/

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