Save our Library and Market Hall

Councillor Helen Hall writes about plans to close the existing Library in Burton on Trent

"At Full Council in July I supported the petition presented by Becky Talbot, entitled 'Save our Library and Market Hall'. 2317 residents had signed the petition. It appealed against the Burton Town Deal Board plans to close the library and move it into the current market hall, thereby losing both the market hall as a market and the prime riverfront location where the library currently stands. I spoke after Becky's presentation, putting forward our group's feeling that the library will be diminished if it moves into the market hall, especially as it will be combined with other County Council facilities under the same roof. It would cause the loss of the indoor market and push out the business-owners who are currently there. It would have only a small amount of parking and plans for the current library site are vague. I'm convinced that much better use could be made of the £7.3 million pot of Government funding for Burton. East Staffordshire Borough Council have failed to capitalise on the £1.5million refurbishment in 2013, and are not embracing the renaissance in markets that Britain is undergoing."