Library books dumped on pavement 'unacceptable'

The books have since been recovered, the mayor said

Hundreds of books have been left strewn across the pavement by council-employed contractors outside a former library in south London.

The books were pictured by local news website Inside Croydon in large piles outside Broad Green Library, which closed late last year as part of cost-cutting measures at Croydon Council.

Mayor Jason Perry apologised, saying the way the books had been treated was "unacceptable" and promised action against the contractors responsible. It is understood they were employed by the council to clear out the building.

He said the former library building, which is being repurposed into an Asian Resource Centre, had also had squatters living in it.

In a video posted on social media on Saturday, the Conservative mayor said: "It's just absolutely terrible what has happened to this building and yesterday we saw even worse things - of books being thrown out on the pavement.

"The way that these books were being treated was just unacceptable and we will be dealing with our contractors accordingly."

Mayor Jason Perry says he was "dismayed" squatters had been sleeping in the building

He added: "For me, books are precious and they shouldn't be treated in that way."

The mayor said that residents had collected some of the books from the ground and they have since been put back into the building.

In his video, Mr Perry said when squatters were staying in the building it had been "sectioned off into bedrooms" and "rented out to people in the most vulnerable of conditions".

He also showed a door that had been "kicked in" along with damaged masonry.

Mr Perry said that while the building will not be a council-operated library, the books will still be available when it reopens at an Asian Resource Centre.

Croydon Council has faced criticism for the library's closure, as well as three others, as part of its restructuring.

In March, some residents told BBC London the library had been a "lifeline" for them.

Mr Perry said the new resource centre will have expanded opening hours compared to when it was a library, operating for two days a week.

He told the BBC in March: "Those that were the lowest usage essentially were the ones that were then shut."