WALTHAMSTOW: Library to become drug treatment centre (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)
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WALTHAMSTOW: Library to become drug treatment centre
1:05pm Monday 9th February 2009 in Waltham Forest News By Carl Brown
The closure of St James Street library sparked protests
A BUILDING which formerly housed a much-loved library will be turned into a drug treatment centre under controversial new council plans.
The St James Street Library building, in Coppermill Lane, will undergo a £350,000 refurbishment and be turned it into an "open access service hub" , leading councillors have decided.
The decision was passed at a council cabinet meeting but was buried in the appendix of a monthly financial monitoring report - prompting accusations from campaigners that councillors have tried to keep the plans under wraps.
Caroline Molloy, of the St James Street Library campaign group, said: "I am quite shocked that we have not been told about this, our local councillors have made noises about keeping us informed of any progress regarding the building."
She added: "What this part of Walthamstow needs is a service for the whole of the community.
"It is no use saying that children no longer go to libraries, if you think that you are writing kids off, libraries give people an education and can prevent them from going on a downward spiral."
St James Street Library was swiftly closed in 2007 to save £70,000, provoking outrage among many local residents, who were not consulted.
More than 1,200 people signed a petition calling for the library to be re-opened and the children's laureate Michael Rosen also joined the campaign.
The council said the closure would have a minimal effect on visitor numbers and has pointed out that three other libraries are in a mile radius of the site.
But leisure cabinet member Cllr Geraldine Reardon later publicly apologised for the lack of consultation about the closure.
NHS Waltham Forest (the primary care trust) will fund the work as part of a larger £600,000 scheme which will also see a building at Thorpe Coombe Hospital and the Alpha Business Centre, in South Grove, Walthamstow, used for drug treatment.
Comments(22)
Janet1
says...
2:08pm Mon 9 Feb 09
If the council think a drug-user centre is such a good idea, why did they take the decision in secret and try to hide the result?
Hogwasher
says...
3:10pm Mon 9 Feb 09
This is not acceptable. It's the wrong use for this buiding. Such a centre should not be allowed so close to local schools and residential areas like Leucha Road which have such a high proportion of many vulnerable elderly residents.
Janet1
says...
4:44pm Mon 9 Feb 09
Loakes did go to a college. This is real elitist stuff. Loakes and his mates got an education, now they're pulling the ladder up behind them.
Hogwasher
says...
6:01pm Mon 9 Feb 09
http://archipelago-o
f-truth.blog.co.uk/2
009/02/09/the-secret
-drug-rehabilitaion-
centre-plans-a-humbl
e-suggestion-5538992
/
Hugh Jed
says...
8:51pm Mon 9 Feb 09
Walthamster
says...
9:25pm Mon 9 Feb 09
Hugh Jed wrote:Huge 'Ead, not everyone will realise you're being sarcastic!
Leave Loakes alone. He is a really nice down to earth bloke and excellent at his job.
sensibility
says...
1:31am Tue 10 Feb 09
Market walker
says...
9:47am Tue 10 Feb 09
I do not know what an open access drug treatment centre is and as a local resident I do not wish to take an automatically nimbyist position. However I think some questions must be answered and I hope we still have time to influence this decision:
1/ Given that a large percentage of crime is caused by drug users, does crime go up locally when such a centre is opened?
2/ Does the facility include a needle exchange?
3/ Is there a likelihood that drug users will gather outside the building during its hours of operation?
As I said I am ignorant of what this means (and of course likely to remain so given a decision was taken in private). I would hope that there is still time for consultation on this decision, and if there is not, that legal challenge may be possible.
Hogwasher
says...
10:05am Tue 10 Feb 09
Market walker
says...
10:21am Tue 10 Feb 09
Jeanoj
says...
10:53am Tue 10 Feb 09
Touchwood
says...
2:02pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Jeanoj wrote:Ludicrous excuses from a ludicrous excuse of a Council!!
3 other Libraries in a 1 mile radius? This may as well be 100 mils for people with mobility problems. This Council don't half come up with ludicrous excuses for their failures!!!
Hogwasher
says...
3:27pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Market walker wrote:Not if they don't inhale.
Are you suggesting that councillors or council workers need drug treatment....
Walthamster
says...
5:24pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Hogwasher wrote:The councillors are much too generous to keep this for themselves, hogwasher.
A new centre can be quite easily and more cheaply be accommodated by placing some porta-cabins on the grass next to the Town Hall and Magistrates Court on Forest Road.
After all, it's an excellent community facility, the ideal replacement for a boring old library. It's perfect for the old people who've had nowhere to go since the library closed. Just what everyone wants on their kids' way home from school.
Hogwasher
says...
9:48am Wed 11 Feb 09
Walthamster wrote:Yes, the council should be very eager and grateful to have such a facility just outside their offices. After all, it won't spoil their enjoyment of life in any way, will it? They won't have to fear for their cars or worry about being mugged by anyone for whom the facility is a failure and who ends up desperate to score and in need of some ready cash. They won't have any drug dealers or other low-lifes attracted to the area, will they, or have to explain to their children not to be afraif of the detritus they see scattered about the street?
Hogwasher wrote: A new centre can be quite easily and more cheaply be accommodated by placing some porta-cabins on the grass next to the Town Hall and Magistrates Court on Forest Road.The councillors are much too generous to keep this for themselves, hogwasher. After all, it's an excellent community facility, the ideal replacement for a boring old library. It's perfect for the old people who've had nowhere to go since the library closed. Just what everyone wants on their kids' way home from school.
No, the council should be proud to have a facility right on their lawn. And it will be handy for the social workers and policy wonks, the probation services and the police to keep an eye on them. Their worships the magistrates would also be able to see if their sentences actually make any difference to the drug-addicted criminal who pass before them day in day out.
Hogwasher
says...
12:09pm Wed 11 Feb 09
I think we also need a public explanation as whether councillors were involved in the decision to hide the information about this in an obscure part of the appendix of a monthly financial monitoring report. Who signed off on it and why?
Walthamster
says...
12:17pm Wed 11 Feb 09
Are we going to hear anything from our local representatives James O'Rourke, Liaquat Ali or Johar Khan?
Cllr James O'Rourke
says...
1:10pm Wed 11 Feb 09
Walthamster wrote:Walthamster
The decision was taken three weeks ago on 20 January.
Are we going to hear anything from our local representatives James O'Rourke, Liaquat Ali or Johar Khan?
Cllr Khan and I are investigating this matter after it was brought to our attention following the diligent research of a Walthamstow resident.
Hogwasher
says...
1:55pm Wed 11 Feb 09
carolinem
says...
3:16pm Wed 11 Feb 09
"Cllr Khan and I are investigating this matter after it was brought to our attention following the diligent research of a Walthamstow resident."
Perhaps Cllr O'Rourke could explain why it takes a 'diligent resident' to alert our 2 local lib dem councillors to the fact that the council has voted to turn the only local library in their ward into a drug centre? Particularly as their leader, Cllr John Macklin, voted in favour of this plan in cabinet on 20th January? (And demonstrably was alerted to the plan no later than 13th January, if not considerably earlier?)
The minutes state clearly - "Cabinet AGREED... The capital programme budget re-allocation of £647,000, as set out in Appendix C to the report."
The libray into drug centre plan is prominently outlined on page 3 of the report referred to. Reports are circulated to cabinet a week before cabinet meetings.
http://www1.walthamf
orest.gov.uk/moderng
ov/Published/C000002
87/M00001819/AI00010
787/$11AppCCapitalBu
dgetChanges.docA.ps.
Janet1
says...
4:12pm Wed 11 Feb 09
Or does Cllr Macklin think this is too unimportant to mention?
Or does he not read the agenda before voting?
Janet1
says...
7:32pm Wed 11 Feb 09
http://www.guardian-
series.co.uk/news/wf
news/4118888.WALTHAM
STOW__Council_denies
_trying_to_hide_libr
ary_decision
Cllr Akram says the council really was going to tell us, honest! They just hadn't quite got round to it (in the three weeks since making the decision) before the Guardian found out and published the story.
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