Northampton community rallies together to reopen library after it was closed for two years due to funding cuts

A community in Northampton has rallied together to reopen its library after it was closed for two years.

Kingsthorpe Parish Council (KPC) has announced it will be taking over the closed down library in Welford Road and reopening it to the public.

The parish council said on Facebook: "After being closed for two years due to a Northamptonshire County Council cost-cutting exercise, KPC voted unanimously...to take over the responsibility of the library in order to safeguard its future.

"Members agreed the library is a valuable community asset and remain committed to getting the facility open as soon as possible and are now proceeding to the next stage with West Northamptonshire Council (WNC)."

Conservative councillor Samuel Kilby-Shaw, chairman of KPC, said the library “should never have shut in the first place”.

The councillor said: "We've got people from all different political persuasions at KPC and the one thing everybody agreed on was that we wanted to get the library reopened. We think it should never have shut in the first place.

"It was shut because Northamptonshire County Council was having financial troubles and it was a cost cutting exercise. At that time, there was no parish council or community group to take it over."

Councillor Kilby-Shaw said there is “definitely a demand” for its return.

He said: "We've had lots of interest from members in the parish. There are lots of groups who used to meet in the library. We've had lots of correspondence asking when the library is reopening, why isn't the library reopening.

"It's something we're all very passionate about and we think we can offer other services such as places for community groups to meet, activities during the day, the possibility of children going there after school. We definitely do think there is a demand for it."

KPC will work with WNC to agree a deal to get the library reopened.

Councillor Kilby-Shaw explained the process and how it will be funded.

"We agreed in principle to fully fund and reopen the library ourselves. The funds are coming entirely from the parish council precepts,” he said.

"It will open full-time with two full-time members of staff. 35 hours a week.

"We now have to demonstrate [to WNC] it's financially viable and sustainable, which from out point of view it is. We've decided we're going for, initially, a 10-year lease with a five-year opt out.

"We'll be throwing everything behind it, so it will be dependent on WNC. Hopefully it will be open soon. I'm really sorry I can't give you a date. As soon as there are any updates we will be publishing them. "

In other news relating to libraries in Northampton, the one in St James escaped permanent closure for a THIRD time after reopening this year.

St James’ Library at the Doddridge Centre official reopened on Saturday, July 30.

The move came after the library was shut during the Covid-19 pandemic and years of battling to avoid it becoming a victim of county council cutbacks.

Click here to read more.

In 2019, it was reported in national newspapers that nearly 800 public libraries closed since the Conservative government launched austerity in 2010.