Community fundraising push to buy former library

Campaigners hope Crossgates' former library can remain in community hands

Campaigners have launched a community fundraising drive in an attempt to buy a former library in east Leeds.

The old Crossgates Library is set to be auctioned off by Leeds City Council at the end of February.

The venue, on Farm Road, shut in 2022 as the library service moved to a nearby shopping centre and a proposed renovation was abandoned.

Now people in the community are trying to raise the cash necessary to buy the building themselves.

The council decided to put the building up for sale at the end of 2023 after concluding that renovating it would be too expensive without extra funding.

More than 1,000 people signed a petition against the plans.

The auction is due to be held on 27 February, with the Crossgates Community Coalition group aiming to raise £350,000 to buy the former library.

Campaigner Helen Lucy said: "We'd asked the council for more time to see if we could take over the building ourselves.

"Unfortunately the answer came back that it's still going to go to auction, which we're terribly disappointed about.

"We've reformed our purpose and rather than trying to get the council to give us it, we've decided we've got to go for a crowdfunder."

The Crossgates Community Coalition is trying to retain the building for public use

Several community organisations, including a boxing club and a children's group, have expressed an interest in sharing the space if the building can be retained.

Mrs Lucy said that the group was in urgent need of "some big donations" or "local philanthropists" who would be willing to contribute to the fund or loan the group the money.

She said: "There are one or two church halls in the area, but no secular places for community groups to meet and for people to come together.

"If we lose this then we lose our last publicly-owned building in the area and that will be very sad."

Explaining its decision to sell off the building before Christmas, Leeds City Council said: "Given our financial position, it is necessary for us to review our entire estate in order to reduce our costs.

"Since the library building was closed it has become the target for anti-social behaviour and has been subject to extensive damage."

The spokesperson added: "Buildings which are vacant must be prioritised given the impact that such properties have on local communities and the costs involved in holding buildings vacant."

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