Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Director - People

Further to Minute No. 14 above the Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director – People on the detailed proposals for the provision of a library- led new facility in Crosby, built to the highest environmental standards and providing highly accessible service provision in a sustainable location. Work had been progressed in developing designs and feasibility studies to help fix the nature of a new facility. This work formed the basis for two funding bids through the Levelling Up Funding (LUF) rounds, the first round providing positive feedback and encouragement for a second-round bid in 2022 which unfortunately again failed to gain support in a very competitive process where 80% of bids nationally failed to gain support from the Government.

Based on the LUF first round feedback and the status of Sefton as a Levelling Up Tier 3 priority (the lowest tier as ranked by Government LUF Criteria), alongside work to prepare and submit the Round 2 LUF bid, officers were also asked to twin track alternative options for delivering what was a widely supported scheme for building a new library health and well-being facility.

This work is now complete and an Outline Business Case (OBC) had been produced in support of the project and the OBC had informed the report and the recommendations.

The report indicated that the following factors combine to provide a strong imperative case for the new facility:

·       The existing Crosby Central Library and Civic Hall have long-standing and significant issues relating to the condition of the building, bringing the long-term viability, in retaining the buildings, into question. Key elements of the building are reaching the end-of-life stage and there is a risk that those elements would be deemed beyond repair if they fail.

·       Working conditions for staff in the building are not conducive to a modern working environment. Furthermore, the nature of the buildings and the changing needs of the service indicate the need for a new format for the library, providing the opportunity to grow the service in line with changing needs of the community/library users.

·       The existing library also presents a major challenge in terms of the Council’s Climate Emergency declaration and linked objectives of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. This is due to the nature of the building itself and the significant costs identified to address the very poor energy performance of the site.

·       The Green Car Park site in Crosby Village Centre was identified, in the adopted Crosby Investment Strategy, as presenting an opportunity to deliver a development site, which could help with the long-term viability and vitality of the village centre. The site is ideally located to provide an alternative location for a new library facility with very good access supported by bus, rail and car travellers. Also, with the imminent introduction of highways improvements linked to sustainable travel, the site will benefit from greatly improved accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.

·       The existing Central library site is identified as a good opportunity for housing led regeneration with new  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17