Northamptonshire parish council completes purchase of community managed library to keep 'village hub' open

A parish council has completed the purchase of a Northamptonshire village library to allow a community group to continue running the facility.

Roade Parish Council used section 106 funds, received from housing developers recently building in and around the village, to purchase Roade library in High Street from Northamptonshire County Council.

The purchase means the library can continue to be managed by Roade Junction Community Group, which has been in charge of the premises since October 2019.

Councillor Lorne Murray, chairman of the parish council, met with Roger Wood, chair of Roade Junction Community Group on Monday (March 1) to officially hand over the lease.

Councillor Murray said “We are delighted to have finally taken ownership of Roade Library. This is great news and will I am sure bring a long lasting legacy to our village.

“We are also delighted to be handing over the running of the library to Roger and the Roade Junction Community Group.

“I know they will continue to nurture and look after the library and make it a community hub for everyone in Roade.”

Mr Wood added: “Roade Junction Community Group is excited to be taking on the lease of the Roade Library building and is looking forward to working with Roade Parish Council to maximise the benefits of this community asset as a library, village hub and more.”

In 2019, a number of libraries across the county were transferred to community management in order to keep them open as they were marked as non-statutory by the county council.

Similarly, the library in Far Cotton has also been managed by a community group since 2019, but has now closed permanently and will be used by Northampton General Hospital for maternity services.

The community team in charge of running Roade library is hoping to be able to offer a click and collect book service from March 31 before opening the doors fully to the public for browsing again on April 14, as long as restrictions are lifted sufficiently.

Updates on reopening can be found nearer the time on the ‘Roade Junction Community Library’ Facebook page.

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