Redditch Library needs to 'take on new form' says council leader

As plans to regenerate Redditch steam ahead, the town’s council leader Cllr Matt Dormer, and Rachel Maclean, MP, said the library needs to be moved to ‘open up the town centre’.

The proposals also include demolishing the current library building and developing a new mixed-use building with food and beverage units, co-working spaces and a public plaza.

The library would then be relocating into the Town Hall which will be transformed into a community hub. 

With just over a month left for residents to take part in a consultation on the relocation of the library into the Town Hall, Cllr Dormer and Ms Maclean spoke to the Advertiser about the ambitious plans to transform the town centre.

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Cllr Dormer has reassured that if some objections to the relocation proposals are ‘workable and can be implemented’ then the plans can be altered.

“The library has to take on a new form – book borrowing is quite low, but the footfall is quite high,” said Cllr Dormer.

“If we put all those support services in the Town Hall and the library in the centre of it, we can literally walk users through the corridors to the library.”

Aerial view of the new plaza. (Image: Redditch Borough Council.)

Many residents have been concerned about where the town’s archives will be stored but it has been confirmed that ‘Redditch relevant archives’ will be stored in the new relocated library.

Cllr Dormer added: “The majority of our archives will be moving to The Hive in Worcester but we will keep Redditch-relevant ones here.

“Storage facilities are being made down below and the archives that are suitable can be displayed so people can see it.”

The plaza will include space for bars, cafes and restaurants. (Image: Redditch Borough Council.)

Rachel Maclean says the relocation of the library is ‘part of the bigger picture’.

“Physical display is so important, it’s the key, if the area is opened up, people will walk around, and businesses will come in when they see the increased football,” said Ms Maclean.

“No one is saying that the library is not important, we could just keep the library and say it will never change but we need the facilities for the world today.”

Recently, Redditch Labour released alternative proposals for the town which included revamping and modernising the library, incorporating a coffee shop in a new glass frontage of the library, and continuing the regeneration of the town hall, but as a centre for the police, NHS and council face-to-face services.

CGI of what the Town Hall could look like. (Image: Redditch Borough Council.)

However, Rachel Maclean said if Labour stop the plans, the group ‘will run out of time’ as the £15.6 million granted by the government’s Towns Fund needs to be spent by March 2026.

She said: “It is public money, and we are all paying for it one way or another, if they are going to try and start again from scratch, they will run out of time.

“We physically can’t spend the money on anything else.

“There’s a lot of myth-busting we need to do.”

Cllr Dormer said the regeneration of the town is ‘not down to politicians’.

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“It is the Town’s Deal Board which makes the decision – even if Labour win the next election, they have to persuade the board which is made up of local people,” he added.

“There has been a lot of misinformation about the plans to suit a political agenda.

“If we had got the plans out sooner people could have seen the correct information but it’s not just us a council working on this it’s also the county council too.

“We are doing road shows and recently the VR exhibition in the town.

“We have got an amazing amount of money from the government.

“We have to stop talking Redditch down and talk Redditch up.”

To take part in the Redditch Library consultation click here.