Extra £400k libraryscheme slammed

Mar 6 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

COUNCILLORS clashed over a controversial children’s centre.

Last April Kirklees proposed opening a new children’s centre and library at the Fussey’s Allotment site in Almondbury.

The plan would have meant the village’s existing library on Stocks Walk – which dates back to 1904 – would have had to close.

But the council agreed to reconsider the plan after more than 1,000 people signed a petition demanding that the historic library remain open.

The council’s Conservative Cabinet agreed yesterday to carry out a feasibility study into building a children’s centre at the Fussey’s site, while expanding the existing library at Stocks Walk.

This would cost £400,000 more than the original plan.

Lib Dem Almondbury councillor John Smithson spoke in favour of the new plan at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

He said: “I originally supported basing the children’s centre and the library at the Fussey’s site. But this proved unfeasible because the idea of closing the library on Stocks Walk was not at all popular in Almondbury.

“It’s important that the area has a children’s centre.”

But Labour councillor Peter McBride - who also attended the meeting - accused Clr Smithson of incompetence for originally supporting closing the Stocks Walk library.

He said: “We’re bailing out Clr Smithson for his incompetence. The council will have to pay nearly half a million pounds extra because he got it wrong in the first place.”

Conservative council leader Clr Robert Light replied that Kirklees had considered the views of people in Almondbury who didn’t want to lose their historic library.

He said: “Clearly local people had concerns about the original plan and I think it’s a good thing that we listened to these concerns and dealt with them.”

The library was built with money from Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.