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St James Street Library Campaign access former library

1:17pm Monday 26th April 2010 in


CAMPAIGNERS calling for a empty library to be re-opened for the community have gained access to the building for the first time.

Members of the St James Street Library Campaign, which is pushing to bring the building in Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow, back into use, said Friday's visit was a was a “break-through” after trying to get in since the doors were shut three years ago.

Campaigner Janet Wright said the group has been busy drafting proposals for future uses of the building, which include re-establishing a library or opening a community centre.

Ms Wright said: “We have been stuck in a circle up until now. We want to put forward proposals for community use but it has been difficult without knowing what state it is in and how much space there is.

“But it has been cleaned up and is in a good state, so now we will start straight away with our proposals. We have lots of very well drafted ideas, so it was just a question of getting in.”

Last July the council vowed to sell the building after calling off its plan to create a drug treatment centre on the site, following opposition from the group.

Ms Wright added: “Selling it is a crazy idea. We would lose the one community centre in a huge area without facilities.”

A council spokesman said: "While the Council has no immediate plans for the building, we will work to ensure the best possible deal for the taxpayer and the local community."

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Comments(6)

tbg says...
3:40pm Mon 26 Apr 10

I'm grateful to Cllr O'Rourke for inviting me to join this site visit, which was my first opportunity to see inside the premises. I do so agree with Janet Wright that selling off this facility would be a grave mistake. The current government passed legislation to enable local authorities to promote 'asset transfer', whereby publicly owned facilities such as this are handed over to community organisations to run for the benefit of the community. Ourl Council, however, while voicing its commitment to the principle, has yet to implement it in practice in any substantive way. These premises could be a test of its sincerity in coming to grips with this issue and I hope it will do so after the elections. However, I fear that a change of government could see an edict from on high to sell off all such assets to the highest bidder to cover funding shortfalls and this would be a disaster - except for property developers of course, who would snap up such public assets on the cheap and then make a fat profit on them when the market eventually picks up.

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highstreetvoiceofreason says...
3:58pm Mon 26 Apr 10

"I gather Khan organised a site visit around the former St James Street Library premises for local campaigners on Friday without informing O'Rourke. O'Rourke got wind of it and turned up anyway (which must rather have stolen Khan's thunder) but I hear Liaquat Ali was also tipped off and turned up too. A publicly owned asset like this is too valuable to play politics with so well done to Cllrs O'Rourke and Ali for thwarting Khan in his attempt to hijack this as a vanity project.”
Is this comment from another article true?

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sensibility says...
4:41pm Mon 26 Apr 10

Waltham Forest Council have quite a record for selling off public buildings and soon there will be none left. I hope everyone works well together to ensure they dont sell the library too

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Another High Street Resident says...
6:17pm Mon 26 Apr 10

highstreetvoiceofrea
son wrote:
"I gather Khan organised a site visit around the former St James Street Library premises for local campaigners on Friday without informing O'Rourke. O'Rourke got wind of it and turned up anyway (which must rather have stolen Khan's thunder) but I hear Liaquat Ali was also tipped off and turned up too. A publicly owned asset like this is too valuable to play politics with so well done to Cllrs O'Rourke and Ali for thwarting Khan in his attempt to hijack this as a vanity project.” Is this comment from another article true?
I reported this anecdote in good faith as told to me, highstreetvoiceofrea
son. While I have no reason to doubt it I do concede that we are talking politics here, where the truth can be a rather flexible commodity. I leave it to readers to decide for themselves what to make of it.

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Market walker says...
6:20pm Mon 26 Apr 10

I gather it's true that councillor Khan set this up, didn't invite anyone else from his own party, but that councillor O'Rourke, being a little more in touch with the ward than his (possible) colleague, got wind of it and turned up.

Which is rather missing the point of this story at least. The people of the area want the library back, and will vote for the candidates that can deliver this, if they can be identified. The council candidates clearly recognise the issue and want the votes, but which of them will deliver?

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Techno2 says...
9:47pm Mon 26 Apr 10

Market walker wrote:
I gather it's true that councillor Khan set this up, didn't invite anyone else from his own party, but that councillor O'Rourke, being a little more in touch with the ward than his (possible) colleague, got wind of it and turned up. Which is rather missing the point of this story at least. The people of the area want the library back, and will vote for the candidates that can deliver this, if they can be identified. The council candidates clearly recognise the issue and want the votes, but which of them will deliver?
How much of this is just election talk? Have any of these aspirants for election come up with any firm costings for what looks suspiciously like an opportune bribe they are trying to dangle at us? What weasle words have they used to turn the phrase 'community use' into a firm commitment to re-open a library?

Handing a building over is one thing - providing it with shelves full of actual books (a computer terminal with a list of things that can be ordered from elsewhere us not the same thing as a library), providing librarians and the salaries to employ them, maintenence budgets and budgtes for the development of the services there etc. is something else.

If this 'electoral promise' has any basis in reality, there should be a clear budget and business plan in place already they can publish now. So where is it? If it exists, and the council money has been allocated to this scheme or is available to be allocated based on sound costings, then the re-openning of the library should in fact be achievable by whoever is elected and not be a gift from the council, dependent on the personality of any particular councillor.

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