Sefton considers £13m Crosby New Library
The council’s cabinet will be asked next week to sign off on the creation of the facility on The Green car park site off Church Road to replace the town’s existing run-down facilities at Crosby Central Library and Civic Hall.
Located off Crosby Road, the old buildings are proposed to be demolished for residential development.
Savills has drawn up the outline business case for the Crosby New Library, featuring a 16,800 sq ft health hub and an 8,600 sq ft library.
The council’s proposals include a range of services including free Wi-Fi, computer-access, newspapers, and audiobooks. The building could also be used as an event space.
Designs for the £13.8m scheme were originally drawn up as part of Sefton Council’s unsuccessful Levelling-Up funding bid in 2021.
Original proposals included 30 apartments, however these have been removed from the plans due to the lack of amenities and open space in the area.
A second Levelling Up funding bid was submitted by the council last year. If successful, this finance would fund Crosby New Library.
Subject to approval, Sefton Council will hold public consultations on the design and delivery process before submitting a full business case for approval.
Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s cabinet member for communities and housing, said: “These plans represent a great opportunity to create a new library that reflects what people want in a location that is easy for them to reach…
“As well as providing a state-of-the-art library and health facility for local people, Crosby New Library will also provide a boost to the village by increasing footfall and resulting economic activity.”
Details of the plans should be made available in the print editions of the local press because not everyone is online. At the moment planning applications appear in the Metro each Wednesday. I have to get to the station before they are all gone.
By Bernard Powell
Keep the old library it’s lovely and a lot of people use it for books and the computers . Plus all the groups that met there like the Thursday craft group ,sit fit class,reading group,Lego club etc.
By Christine Fereday
What a ridiculous idea, why not spend a tenth of that money and re open Carnegie Library which is sat empty.
By Phil Harris
Crosby Library (in Waterloo) should be preserved and refurbished as a working example of 1960s architecture and part of local heritage. It should be pointed out that this library is still in full use for the local community. The Civic Hall and theatre should be similarly preserved. A health centre could be built on land nearby. Or perhaps purchase and utilise Park House, another heritage building. Perhaps the land now occupied by two empty tower blocks (Chapel House & Dean House) could be better used for social housing.
By L.M Marshall
For once Sefton Council has come up with a sensible plan. Refurbishing the existing buildings will be very expensive and will require constant maintenance. The provision of a health centre is long overdue and a modern multipurpose library facility will be warm, welcoming and well used. Other Boroughs in Merseyside have invested in their local Library provision to great success over many years. I hope this excellent plan actually comes to completion and we get the modern facilities we deserve.
By Anonymous
I love the current library. Why remove this facility from Waterloo? Children/parents from the local schools will be sad to see this go. They attend clubs there as well as use it to borrow books and study.
By John
Why hasn’t this proposal been widely advertised? I have only heard about it from other people talking about it. The library in Waterloo is central to buses and rail or walking. This library is used every day and there are plenty of rooms for community activities.
Why is the council spending money on new shelving & carpeting if they are going to demolish the building? If the council has a spare £13M maybe they should use it for all of the community.
By jean
The vast majority of Crosby residents are unaware of the proposed closure and eventual sale of the L land for more flats/housing estate. I just can’t get my head around having a new Library, when we have a perfectly good one functioning as we speak we also have another Library sadly not being used as it was closed due to under funding and is now in a very poor state. However we have been informed that all is well with Carnegie library as a Coffee house and social hub are to take it over ( best hurry up as it looks like it may fall down at any moment) there are seven establishments where we can buy a coffee along Collage Road I’m not sure we need another. Please councillors leave that great building as it is and spend the money wisely.
By John Adcock
What an absolute waste of a functional building in Waterloo. Environmental damage caused by the demolition of a perfectly good building that people are used to. We need more libraries not a smaller one – the Carnegie closure on College Rd was bad enough.
By Anonymous
Crosby library should be left as it is, as My freinds and I go to an art group there every Wednesday 11 am till 2 pm and its something and somewhere to go to do are art work, so yes Crosby library should not get pulled down
By Denise Kay
We need our library to stay where it is
By Jayne Stacey
Could I ask visitors to Crosby library not to be so nasty to the staff over this issue. Yet again the council keeps the rate payer in the dark.whats new. Everything is being pushed into Crosby.If you don’t like it get in touch with your council and MP. The staff are not in control.
By Dawn
Has this plan been dropped then?
By KD
I’d welcome a library closer to me but surely the village is going to need more important amenities such as a replacement post office and banks etc? What is going on? Housing for what I estimate to be near 1000 residents. There is a library 5 minutes away in Waterloo. I used to love using the old library. It used to hold craft fairs- please build up the existing community instead of all the endless change. P.S. Whoever was managing the recent change to the traffic way at the top of Liverpool Road- what an absolute waste of money and time to make a decent working junction completely useless. The railings have been replaced with traffic cordens. Get some decent staff in – levelling up has failed- all that money wasted, my goodness.
By Anonymous