Redditch council leader defends plans to move the library

An artist's impression of Redditch's new community hub

The leader of Redditch Borough Council has defended controversial plans to move the library into the town hall.

Councillor Matthew Dormer told BBC Hereford & Worcester the plan "made perfect sense".

He said the plans, set to be completed in December 2024, would bring in £400,000 annually to the local economy.

His comments came despite criticism from opposition councillors after it emerged costs had risen from £5.2m to £6.2m.

Mr Dormer said the library move "makes Redditch more sustainable as a council because it can save over £400,000 a year into our budget, we're that much better off".

When completed, the town hall will include the library, communal spaces and some local NHS services would also move into the "community hub".

Councillor Dormer said the plans would benefit the whole of Redditch

In a meeting earlier this week, the council agreed to raise the budget of the project by £1m to accommodate for inflation.

"It's still massive value for money because all the sports services that we're going to bring in and put the library in there. A lot of them pay rent. So this makes a difference," Mr Dormer said.

'Vanity project'

However, some have criticised the plan, with more than half of respondents in a public consultation saying they "strongly disagreed" with the new location of Redditch Library.

Since the plans were approved in July this year, some residents have voiced strong opposition to the move, which would take the library further away from the town centre.

Redditch's Labour leader Joe Baker said the move was "a vanity project that a blinkered Matt Dormer insists on pushing through".

He also alleged the plan would make the council overspend which could "put the council into a budget disaster".

"With petitions and consultations saying no to the library, the Conservatives did not care," he said.

What the plaza that is replacing the library will look like.

Councillor Dormer defended both the new community hub and the redevelopment of the old library site into cafes and bars, saying it would bring more people into the town, in particular from the nearby Kingfisher shopping centre.

"It makes perfect sense to do what we are doing, it makes commercial sense to do what we're doing," he said.