Listed library is sold to 'creative-minded' bidder

Cambridgeshire County Council has agreed to sell the former library on Mill Road

A Grade II listed former library will be sold to a unnamed bidder who runs "community focused enterprises".

The 19th Century Mill Road Library building in Cambridge has stood empty for several years.

Cambridgeshire County Council said the buyer had offered "significantly more" than the £700,000 guide price.

It said the "creative-minded individual" had agreed in principle not to convert the building into homes.

The council said the bidder - who runs community enterprises in London - was "strongly motivated" to retain the building’s architecture and had "sufficient resources" to do so.

"The proposal is to let it to community users in the creative arts," the authority said.

The building, which dates back to 1892, was last used as a library in 1996.

It has since been leased to community groups in the city, including the Cambridge Hindu Association.

Nearly £500,000 was invested in 2021 to carry out repairs. It was then let on a temporary basis to the Hill Group until February 2023.

Last year, a sale with another bidder was agreed, but they pulled out.

'Tragedy'

Cambridgeshire County Council leader Lucy Nethsingha said the former library sitting empty was a "tragedy".

"The council is not in a financial position to be able to again take the risk of a beautiful listed building not being looked after as it should be," she said.

Seven bids for the building were received in the most recent round of bidding, and among these were local community groups.

Kate Collins raised this at a meeting, asking why the authority "does not trust the local community to deliver".

Council officers revealed that their preferred bidder said they would listen to the community’s needs.

'Morally and ethically wrong'

Selling the former library at all has proved controversial.

Councillor and former MEP Richard Howitt, who represented the ward in which the building is situated, said the sale was "morally and ethically wrong".

At the meeting, he called on the authority to "put right" its decision to sell it to a third party.

But others said the authority couldn’t afford to keep the building.

Councillor Elisa Meschini said the "entire council will go down" if it takes on excessive financial risk, adding that the council "desperately wants what’s best for it".

The council said it expected the sale of the former library to be finalised by the end of the year.