Opening date planned for city's relocated library

APRThe Grade II* listed Shirehall was chosen after councillors rejected plans to house the library in a shopping centre

A cathedral city will have a new library but residents will have to wait until 2026.

Hereford will get it in Shirehall by August that year, the county's head of finance has said.

A new capital budget and strategy was passed by a full meeting of Herefordshire Council on Friday.

It set aside £395,000 for the relocation of the library and learning centre in the coming financial year and £2.6m the year after that.

Relocating the new library from the Maylord Orchards centre to the largely disused Shirehall was a key policy of the Conservative administration which took over in the county in May.

The city’s library moved out of its former Broad Street home last year as part of moves to turn the building into a new exhibition space.

It currently has a temporary home in Friars Street.

The Grade II* listed Shirehall, a council-owned building on St Peter's Square, was chosen after councillors rejected plans to house it in a shopping centre.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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