Green light for community group to take over library
Posted on Tuesday 1st September 2015
Councillor Gail Giles, Newport City Council's Cabinet Member for People and Business Change, has agreed that a regeneration charity can take over Maindee Library as a community asset.
Maindee Unlimited will operate the building on licence for 18 months with a view to a longer term arrangement for the future.
Councillor Giles said: "Newport City Council is continuing to face unprecedented financial pressures as a result of cuts to our funding which sadly means we cannot deliver all services in the same way as we have done in the past.
"Maindee Unlimited has come forward with exciting plans and a strong business case that should secure this facility for the benefit of the community for the foreseeable future and help it continue to be the 'beating heart' of the area.
"We will welcome discussions with other groups who wish to follow this initiative and develop business cases to maintain and develop facilities in their communities."
Leader of Newport City Council, Councillor Bob Bright has welcomed this innovative solution as the council prepares itself for more challenging decisions in the next financial year.
"Community based collaborations such as this are proving to be popular solutions in Newport. We have seen the success of the Cwtsh initiative in the former Stow Hill library where local people have breathed new life into this building.
"I am confident that Maindee Unlimited will be careful guardians of this central part of Maindee life, and I hope that more groups will come forward for similar projects in the future. Local people, providing local solutions to local needs is a model that we are happy to embrace. "
Maindee Unlimited chairperson David Moses says the group is absolutely thrilled to be given the opportunity to keep the building open for community use.
"Obviously we would have preferred that the library could have stayed open as it is now. But we hope we can at least keep the building open for community use and offer a limited library service.
"This is a very exciting time for Maindee," said Maindee Unlimited Trustee Alison Starling. "It's a chance for all of us who live or work here to help make this centre what we'd like it to be. So often we feel powerless to change our community. But now we can do something. "
The group says its first task is to recruit volunteers to help run the centre.
"Over 20 local people have already volunteered to get things going with the new service" said MU programme manager John Hallam. "But we need plenty more."
There will be a meeting on September 9 at 6pm at the library on Chepstow Road for people to find out more about how they can volunteer to help.
Interim plans include a drop in IT facility, a children's book club, a small lending library and a café run as a social enterprise. The building will also be available for groups and individuals to hire out.
Further details of the decision, and Maindee Unlimited's business case, can be found at https://democracy.newport.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=150&MId=6411&Ver=4