Woodingdean could be about to get its long-awaited new library – with the added bonus of a new doctor’s surgery as well.
A new combined facility is being planned for the site of the current library in Warren Road. The council is expected to put aside £500,000 for the library part of the project and is working with the NHS as a partner on the whole scheme. The current library and youth hut would both be demolished to make a space for the new building.
The library is currently in a single story flat roof ‘temporary’ building dating from 1959. Its 111 square metres of floor space is only half the recommended size for an area with Woodingdean’s population. Visits have increased in the last three years from 14,000 to 23,000, with around 26,000 items borrowed.
Local GPs are currently in a converted house in The Ridgway, offering about 200 square metres. Patient numbers have outgrown the building. It has poor access for people with mobility problems and high running costs.
The new library would be 269 square metres – over twice the size of the current library; including an ICT suite and a community room. Doctors would have 610 square metres – treble their current space.
A proposed timetable suggests the project will be submitted for planning permission in March and that work could start by July 2012 and be complete a year later.
It is planned to have the mobile library offering a temporary service whilst the new library is being built..
Public consultation is taking place to find out what people would like to see in terms of services and facilities in the new Woodingdean Library and Medical Centre. Consultation events planned so far are:
Wednesday February 15 at the Woodingdean Tenants and Residents Association Annual General Meeting 7.30pm at Woodingdean Community Centre.
Tuesday March 13 Woodingdean Library 6-8pm
Wednesday March 14 Woodingdean Library 3-5pm.
Information about the proposed development will be circulated across Woodingdean and people will also be able to get information and give their views from early March via the council consultation portal at:
http://consult.brighton-hove.gov.uk/portal
For pictures of former libraries in Woodingdean see here.