Green light for 'pop-up' library in Freshney Place - but how 'temporary' is 'temporary'?

                                     

Where will it be? Council has not divulged likely Freshney Place location of 'temporary' pop-up library

IT looks like a temporary 'pop-up' library will  open in Grimsby’s Freshney Place shopping arcade.

This was confirmed at a  special North East Lincolnshire Council scrutiny panel meeting held this afternoon.

But no details have been given of:

* The proposed date of its opening

* The location of the vacant retail  unit that has been selected

* The estimated costs of the initiative

Also undisclosed is the amount of rental income that is likely to be forfeited as a result of a lost retail space.

At the meeting, Cllr Matthew Patrick (Lab, Heneage) expressed dismay at what was was being proposed in the wake of  the indefinite closure of  Grimsby Central Library in March as a result of a perceived asbestos contamination issue.

He protested: "The administration has gone for the easy option.

"But the purpose of Freshney Place is to provide retail opportunities, not to be a storage dump for council services."

Similar exasperation was sounded  by Labour colleagues Cllr Sophia Farren (Sidney Sussex) and Cllr Malcolm Morland (Croft Baker), with Cllr Marian Boyd (Con, Park) also expressing disquiet.

Meanwhile,  Cllr Tim Mickleburgh (Lab, South) doubted  that the pop-up library would be "fit for purpose" given its limited book stock, with only two public computers and lack of space for other facilities such as small-scale community gatherings.

The meeting was attended by no fewer than 28 members of the public fearful that the borough's library service - specifically  the premises in Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Waltham - are at serious risk of being downgraded as NELC seeks way of cutting costs.

Two were wearing red tee-shirts carrying the message: "We shall not be moved."

The authority's portfolio holder  with responsibility for libraries, Cllr Hayden Dawkins (Con, Humberston & New Waltham), sought to reassure fellow-councillors and the public with what he called a "categorical assurance" that the Freshney Place move was "temporary only".

"I cannot stress that enough,"he insisted.

But Cllr Patrick was unconvinced. "Temporary is a dangerous word,"he declared.