Plans for Canning Town Library Announced. Sort of.

Readers will recall that Newham Council caved in to a handful of protesters about the use of the redundant library building in Canning Town. 

After five years, Newham Council have indicated that they do have plans for “The Old” Canning Town Library building. We would like to welcome the progress, but the mayor has demonstrated yet another missed opportunity. Instead of innovation, she has pursued another attempt to replicate what is already in place, with a vanity project that other people will have to pay for.

The council have secured an unspecified sum from the government’s levelling up fund to pay for designs for the refurbishment of the library.

After five years, (nearer eight when the work is completed) there will be a functioning building; not in the private sector bringing in jobs and money to the council, but another public sector space that will cost the council money to run, but that’s okay, as there are clearly no problems with the budget.

The council is making bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund and ‘other grant awarding bodies’ to reach the £5m needed. 

What we will get for all this investment is shown on the Newham website. They will “transform this historically significant building, reinstating it as a valuable community asset which celebrates Newham’s heritage. Upon completion, it will house a new archive, reading rooms, a digital media suite, teaching and learning space, a café and new workspace.” 

That begins to sound a lot like the new library, which is only a hundred metres away and also contains several rooms for hire and use which can be arranged for between 20-90 people. It contains reading spaces and workspaces for students and residents. As we have seen, it contains teaching and learning spaces; it has a café. We’re not sure just what digital media equipment will be in the advertised ‘suite’. It may be that this replicates some of the stuff already in the new library and resource centre, but possibly replicates the studios in the Old Town Hall, run by Community Links as a community resource and which is adjacent to the Old Library.

Here's what it says on the Newham website about the new library. “Custom House and Canning Town Community Neighbourhood Centre.” 

“The redevelopment of Rathbone Market has provided space for a brand new £2 million Community Neighbourhood Centre, which opened in September 2017. The state of the art centre includes a range of community spaces that can be used by groups and organisations, offering a wide range of initiatives and activities local residents can get involved in. The Canning Town Library, formerly located opposite the market, has moved into the new building. Residents can borrow books, films and CDs and the centre has studying and reading areas, computers, free wifi, public toilets with baby changing facilities and lots of classes and events.” 

One new thing, it will house is “Newham’s Heritage Collection”, which will mean shifting the collection from one building to another. If, however, this collection is genuinely going to be used “as a hub to local heritage and creativity” it will need curating and supporting. Happily, the world is awash with museum and teaching staff who want to work for nothing, so this will not cause any drain on the council finances.

We do not know whether an indicative budget for the new resource centre has been drawn up. Perhaps some of our councillors might enquire.

We do wonder if any of the councillors from other wards might be a little concerned that Canning Town is getting two resource centres while they don’t. The members of the Finance and Budget commissions might usefully interrogate this initiative, if that is, they can now get the mayor to attend one of their meetings.

Our estimate of the costs over the eight years:

Lost Investment £1m

Lost Rent and Rates £2.4m

Cost of security £1.2m

Total £4.6m

On top of this is the cost of refurbishment, on the council’s figures this is £5m.

The mayor’s procrastination and attachment to vanity schemes will have cost roughly £8.2m before the building opens.

We do not have the information to make an informed calculation as to the annual costs of running the second “New Resource Centre” in Canning Town, but would hazard a guess that it will be in the region of a third of a million pa. Will this be new money or will some other wards suffer cuts to pay for it?

In the interim, “a multi-disciplinary design team”, from an “award winning architecture practice is developing designs with the aim of submitting a planning application in spring of 2023”.