Make-do library sparks anger

Disgruntled . . . Councillor Dave Hibbert shows off the less-than adequate temporary library provision

Councillor blasts temporary ‘joke’

Here stands the temporary replacement for Broadway Library.

It’s a handful of makeshift hospital-style trolleys crammed with books and shoved into the kitchen of a community centre.

The paltry provision, squashed into Chadderton’s Turf Lane Community Centre, will replace a library which attracted 50,000 visitors a year and housed a computer suite which was booked out every night of the week.

Chadderton South councillor Dave Hibbert, for one, is hopping mad.

Councillor Hibbert said: “This provision is so inadequate, it’s laughable, and many people who have seen my photos of the temporary ‘library’ actually thought I was playing a joke on them. They have thrown some books on to four trolleys which look like the ones you have at the side of your bed in hospital.

It just shows the utter contempt in which this administration holds the people of Chadderton.”

The closure of Broadway Library, which finally shut its doors on May 16, was on the cards before the Liberal Democrats came to power.

But cross-party councillors representing Chadderton South and Chadderton Central only agreed to back the plan if a suitable replacement could be found. Councillor Hibbert added: “We were looking for a space in a health centre in Fields New Road, which is very close to the old library, but because the Liberal Democrats dithered about, we lost that opportunity and now we are left with this.”

Councillor Hibbert has now resigned from his position as chairman of the Cultural Strategy Implementation Board in protest and is demanding a meeting with councillors and officers to try to boost the provision at Turf lane.

“Broadway Library regularly hosted learning opportunities for three local primary schools and was packed out each and every day and during school holidays with young people taking part in activities,” he said.

“To see it reduced to something like this is an utter disgrace.”

Staff initially refused permission for the Chronicle to take a picture of the facility, but eventually allowed our photographer in after 20 minutes of wrangling.

Councillor Hibbert said: “This council is supposed to be about consultation and transparency and they won’t even let an elected member in with a photographer to expose a problem. It’s a public building and Oldhamers pay council tax to fund it.

“It just shows how embarrassed they are about the whole mess they have organised.”

The misery is set to continue for South Chadderton library users, as the Turf Lane Centre will close for two weeks in July for maintenance and building works.

Councillor John McCann, Cabinet member for community services and housing, said: “In the autumn, the new £5m Health and Well Being Centre will also open in Chadderton and that will offer a new library facility.”

n Members of the Chadderton Historical Society have applied to the English Heritage Society to save the library from demolition by making it a listed building.