Date revealed for contentious library move

Bruce Sinclair Local Democracy Reporter

The contentious move of coastal town library to an edge of town county hall building is expected to be completed by mid-2025, a council spokesperson has said.

Back in October, senior Ceredigion councillors backed a proposal to move Aberaeron’s library from the town centre to the edge of town council offices at Penmorfa, despite some 900 people opposing the move in a public consultation.

Ceredigion County Council recently held a public consultation on the proposed move of the library – one of four full-time libraries in the county – from the centre of town, with potential similar proposals being mooted for Lampeter, partly due to ongoing budget pressures.

The Penmorfa move, bolstered by grant support, is part of a £70,000 savings target for the library service.

Majority against

The consultation attracted just under 900 responses, the vast majority against a move from the town hall, with concerns including a loss of footfall for local businesses, increased walking distance making it unusable for those with physical limitations, and users wanting to shop and socialise in the town centre at the same time as visiting the library.

At the October meeting, local member Cllr Elizabeth Evans said the 900 responses to the consultation were “all at one” in opposition to the changes, describing it as “not fit for purpose,” adding: “Please reconsider this decision, I urge you please, prove me wrong and just make the right decision for the people and you will get the footfall in the library.”

She later said: “We know how this decision is going to go; you’re going to vote for the relocation. Public confidence is on its knees, and I can see why.”

Since then, Cllr Evans has raised concerns about the timescale for the move: “The timescale for the town library move up to Penmorfa is still unknown, and everyone remains very angry about the decision.”

“Much-improved”

A Ceredigion County Council spokesperson said: “A tender process is currently underway for building contractors to complete the work, with an expected start date of February and an end date of June 2025.

“Progress updates will be shared once contractors have been appointed.

“The new library will be larger and have an improved collection of books with a much-improved children’s collection. There will be a new focus on wellbeing and much more space for activities, study and a host of new digital resources.

“The new library will be open for longer during the week as well as Saturday mornings and also continue to support the public with Council enquiries.

“At a time of challenging finances, we are looking forward to starting on this project to improve and safeguard library and customer contact facilities in Aberaeron.

“We are also investing in our digital resources for all Ceredigion users and would encourage all residents to join a library in person or via our online pages to take advantage of all the great resources available.

“We have just launched our new library website https://ceredigion.spydus.co.uk/ , where new users can join and existing users can loan e-reader versions of magazines, newspapers and books as well as being able to browse and reserve all the latest new releases in our collection.”