New hope for library

A CRUCIAL meeting of the county council cabinet on Thursday will decide whether to recommend giving the green light to a new 2 million book-and-music library for Lewes.

And campaigners, fighting to have the project restored as a priority in next year s building plans, are briefing council members, and the Lewes town and district councils, on why there is an urgent need to replace the current library in Albion Street.

The briefing document stresses that the library is one of the busiest in the county, drawing a third of its users from outside the town, while its local studies collection attracts visitors from all over East Sussex.

However, it claims that the library is too small, cramped and unfit for the use that is made of it.

People with disabilities are denied full access to the library, which fills two floors and has no lift, and consequently the building would fail the legal requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act when it comes in to force in two years time.

A steep flight of steps leads to the main entrance, which also creates difficulties for people with children in pushchairs.

Said a campaign spokesman: 'Its limited space also means that the heavily-used music library is housed in a separate building a mile away that has been declared unsafe and must be vacated by the end of March.

Two petitions, with a total of 3,000 signatories, were presented to the council in December urging it to reinstate the project.

Support for the campaign has also come from the East Sussex Disability Association and the Sussex Family History Group.

Lewes Library Friends, Friends of the Music Library and the Friends of Lewes have offered to raise money towards the building of the new library.

Added the spokesman: 'Putting all Lewes s public library services under one roof would enable collections of county-wide significance, such as local studies and music collections, to be properly accessible.

Computers

'It would also allow the library service to take advantage of Government funding to make available to the public around 40 computers, all linked to the Internet.

'At present there are only four at Albion Street.

The new building would provide accommodation for the Citizen s Advice Bureau, exhibition space, a meeting room, a public square and performance space.

In addition it would include a regional literature centre, fully funded by grants, promoted by the Arts Council as a flagship development of national significance.

The spokesman continued: 'The council has said that if the project is not restored, the existing library s extension would have to be pulled down and re-built and the rest of the building extensively refurbished at a cost of 1.286 million.

'The estimated cost of the new building is 2.994 million against which can be offset 550,000 in grants for incorporating the literature centre and somewhere around 400,000 from the sale of the Albion Street building.

'Not building the new library would save the council just 758,000.

'Offset against this ''saving would be almost 200,000 already spent on the existing scheme and written off.

'In addition the council would be failing to take advantage of 550,000 in grants to incorporate the proposed regional literature centre in the building.

To summarise, say the campaigners, the council, would be spending almost 1.3 million to patch up the existing building, when for an additional net cost of just over 750,000 it could provide a purpose-built library designed to meet the needs of the 21st century.

The cabinet recommendation will be considered by a full meeting of the council on February 19.