Officer presentation
Minutes:
James Oates (Southwark Property) explained that he was involved in the Canada Water regeneration project. Part of that was to sell the old library in Albion Street. The sale of which would partly go to fund the new library. The Cabinet had recently accepted an offer from Canada Quays partnership who intend to knock it down and redevelop if for housing with some community uses and retail on the ground floor. The sale should be complete around March 2012.
In response to questions, James said it would be some time before the new site was built but there were already discussions with the Police about the possibility of a Police presence on the site of the old library. There had been nine bidders in all. The mix of social and private housing would be decided following discussions and through the planning process. Part of the attraction of selling to Canada Quays was their track record and commitment to the Area Action Plan. They were trying to get the right kind of uses into the building.
Anna Devlet (British Land) added that local groups and residents would be consulted by Canada Quays on the community uses for the building.
In response to questions, James explained that property density would be decided through the planning process. The Albion Street site had guardians currently living in it and the commercial incentive for the developers was to re-build as fast as possible. It was likely to take 18 months to 2 years. Other options were being looked at for Albion Street and over the next few months local people should hear of things being worked on to help improve the area. Residents expressed concerns over Albion Street being run down and many properties were not being sufficiently looked after.
Adrian Whittle (Head of Culture, Libraries, Learning and Leisure) responded to a question on money spent on the old library by clarifying that the Council had spoken to Beck around 2003 and those works had been completed by 2005. He would look into whether works on the old library were being done as late as 2008.
Adrian said the new library opened on 28 November 2011 and since then about 1,400 visitors per day had used the library compared to 6,000 per month at the old library. There were 40,000 items of stock on display with a further 10,000 in reserve.
In the first six weeks more than 2,500 people had joined the library. The public response had been very positive and the events programme had started. A lot of work was being done with local schools and there had been author speaking events including Jacqueline Wilson (Tracey Beaker author). For adults, Ben Fogle attended and spoke to more than 100 people and theatre productions had also been very popular. Former Councillor Anne Yates was honoured with a plaque in the children’s library. There were also literacy, yoga and photography classes. A programme of events for the year had been circulated, several award winning authors had been lined up and there would be a summer reading challenge for children in August.
In response to questions, Adrian said there was a mailing list for events and activities. The Albany, who manage room bookings, were getting about 80 calls per week and hire rooms could be made available to accommodate library users when appropriate.