The library debate goes on.
Following pressure from DBOL, the Council have, at last, issued a second consultation document which (unlike the first one) asks if we want want to keep the Library, Archives and meeting rooms where they are. DBOL suggest that you answer "No" to the first two questions which are essentially the same, and "Yes" to the last question. You can find the online version of the form by clicking here.
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SATURDAY 4th FEBRUARY is
NATIONAL LIBRARIES DAY
Show your support
for libraries in general, and Halifax Central Library in particular, by coming
along between 10.30am and 12.30pm to sign DBOL's Two-Hour petition.
Linda Riordan, who has been a staunch supporter from the start, is planning to join us around 11am.
There'll be plenty copies of the second questionnaire to fill in too. Say NO to Questions 1 & 2 and YES to Question 3.
This is the only place in CMBC's consultation documents where you can tell them you want Central Library to stay where it is.
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Town Team Meeting in the Town Hall
Tuesday February 14th at 5.30pm (5.15 for tea/coffee)
Come and make your feelings known!
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At the Council meeting on December 7th 2011, an amendment was accepted that full public consultation would take place before a decision was made on whether or not to relocate Central Library to the site of the remains of Square Church, between Square Chapel and the Industrial Museum. As yet, the council haven't disclosed what form this consultation will take. Halifax Civic Trust, along with DBOL, firmly believe that everyone potentially affected by this decision - so that means everyone within Calderdale - should be in possession of all the facts currently within the public domain. To this end, a new website, The Library Index Monitor, has been set up which draws together all the information and links to other websites.
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At a CMBC Cabinet meeting on October 31st 2011, a decision was made to recommend to Council the proposal to dispose of Northgate House and Central Library, and to relocate the library in a new building on the site of the ruins of Square Church, next to Square Chapel, and adjoining the Piece Hall. The project will be funded from the sale of the Council’s Heath site. This proposal will go before Council on December 7th; just three weeks from now. Currently there are no detailed plans, and no costings, meaning the decision will be made on little more than an artist’s sketch.
We have less than three weeks to have our say about the proposed plans for the library and archives:
Write to the Council and to your local representatives:
Chief Executive, Calderdale Council, Town Hall, Halifax
Leader, Calderdale Council, Town Hall, Halifax
Your Ward Councillors (click here to find out who they are)
Send a letter or e-mail to the Courier: Correspondence can be sent to the Courier at Your Say, Evening Courier, PO Box 19, King Cross Street, Halifax HX1 2SF, or to mailto:yoursay@halifaxcourier.co.uk
Write to your MP
The following letter from the Executive Committee of Halifax Civic Trust was published in the Halifax Courier on Monday 21st November 2011
Halifax Civic Trust remains strongly opposed to the loss of the current library. It is a popular facility in a modern, airy, attractive building, well situated at the heart of the town centre.
An extraordinarily high proportion of the local population and many others numbering in total over 16,000, have specifically expressed their desire that the library should stay where it is. The rejection of such a strong expression of public opinion, reinforced in a succession of consultation exercises organised by the local authority itself and the abandonment of repeated public assurances that the current facilities would be safeguarded on their existing site makes a mockery of the processes of democratic consultation and undermines trust in local politicians.
Calderdale Central Library has a range of well-used facilities, including extensive local archives and capacious meeting rooms as well as public lending and reference facilities. If the library is demolished there is no guarantee, in the present financial climate, that a new one will emerge containing the full range of facilities of an equally high standard provided at the Northgate building. The strategy for re-location must be viewed as extremely high risk, dependent on the sale of another property at the anticipated price within the anticipated time scale whilst retaining the interest of developers in the Northgate site in a potentially deteriorating economic climate.
The proposed site for a new central library, in Square Road, is ill judged. It is on the edge of the town centre core instead of at its heart, in contrast to the present location of the library and indeed libraries in other West Yorkshire towns. We have noted the very high percentage of library users who access it from the bus station and most people, including older users will find the proposed site much less convenient and accessible than the existing library, especially after dark. Moreover, the vast majority of local library users will not find the nearby railway station a feasible alternative for visiting the library. The proposal for a shuttle bus service to and from the new library is equally ill-conceived and a tacit acknowledgement of the inconvenience of the proposed re-location. Shuttle buses have been tried a number of times in Halifax and have never succeeded. A library shuttle would either fail again or require an expensive ongoing financial commitment by the council to maintain it.
The published impressionistic designs for the proposed new library, in Square Road do not appear to be derived from any realistic consideration of the building’s multiple functions including silent study areas, extensive secure special collection and archive storage with service access for frequent deliveries and meeting room facilities with accommodation for audiences of varying sizes ranging upwards to over 120, which can be housed comfortably in the existing building.
Moreover, the site is significantly smaller than the existing library accommodation with its convenient servicing and parking facilities and arguably not sufficiently extensive to display the building’s design adequately. The library would be sandwiched between the Square Church spire and the Calderdale Industrial Museum and its impact on major heritage buildings in close proximity would require careful assessment by English Heritage and local conservationists.
While the spire and transept of Square Church would appear to be retained in the proposed library scheme the proposal would mean the loss of the footprint of the partially demolished but historically important, grade II*-listed church building, which is the earliest and only surviving example of Dissenting Gothic architecture in the centre of the town.
With its Crossley associations, it should be considered as an important heritage site in its own right and its integrity respected, since it relates to the story of the adjacent restored Georgian Chapel and its offshoot, the former Sion Chapel, Wade Street, now skilfully incorporated into the town’s bus station, a model of how heritage features can be preserved in a re-development. Surely an exciting museum feature focusing on the town’s social history, incorporating the surviving ruins on the site and complementing the industrial museum would enhance the attraction of the Piece Hall to tourists more significantly than a library designed primarily for the needs of local residents and sustain its regeneration which we strongly support.
The scale of the retail development envisaged for the Northgate site (and potentially extending to the Royal Mail and Bus Station sites) is huge and arguably out of keeping with the scale of the adjacent town centre streets and buildings, including the admirably constructed Woolshops development, which was strongly influenced in its conception by Halifax Civic Trust. In that instance, the existing streetscape with individual shop fronts and an irregular roofline was preserved on one side of the historic route. On the other side a curved façade followed the line and retained some architectural features of the previous Art Deco unit, but without the arcade. By this means the character and some of the idiosyncrasies of the original townscape were preserved, with a scale and mass that harmonised with the town centre. We do not believe that the viability of new stores has been nor would be damaged by a continuation of this approach and hope that any new buildings will complement the existing townscape.
Retail units close to the heart of the town should be designed so as not to overwhelm the existing streets and buildings. This might be achieved by partially enveloping any new development by existing buildings or newly created ones on an appropriate scale. To allow a single retailer to occupy the extensive 100-yard frontage along Northgate from near the top of the Woolshops to the bus station and the long frontage facing the bus station along Wade Street might prove to be a visual disaster.
We are aware that the, as yet unfinished, development at Broad Street is already being heavily criticised for its overbearing size at an important gateway to Halifax from the north and its obscuring of the setting of the historically important Halifax Town Hall as well as views from the town centre towards Claremount and the grade 1-listed All Souls’ Church. The recently announced scheme for the Pennine Centre site between Horton Street and New Road proposes a second very large retail development. A similar development at Northgate would provide a third very large commercial development within the Halifax town centre conservation area, which would be entirely out of scale and character with the existing town centre and in the current economic climate might even jeopardise the take-up of units in the proposed Pennine Centre.
We consider that the retention of the central library in its present location would continue to enhance the townscape by preserving an interesting late-twentieth century building constructed in fine quality Woodkirk stone, which does not dominate its neighbouring Victorian buildings. Moreover we are concerned that the figure of £6 million cited for its refurbishment must be considered unsubstantiated until the reports into its condition are published. The demolition of the purpose-built library, archives and meeting room facilities, the newest and finest of their kind yet constructed within West Yorkshire, would be a costly mistake and would deprive all members of the community of a much-valued, conveniently located, accessible cultural asset, which they have clearly indicated they wish to preserve on its existing site.
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More details were given in a report on Tuesday 1st November in the Halifax Courier:
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Below is the initial response from the campaign group Don't Bulldoze Our Library to Council Leaders following Cabinet's decision to recommend demolition. Our thanks to them for allowing us to copy it here.
INTERIM DBOL RESPONSE
The proposal that is about to be placed before Council is a major one, and its implications - for good or for ill - will be far reaching and long lasting for Halifax, Calderdale and the wider world. In the circumstances, it will appear to many somewhat surprising that so little time has been allocated for Councillors and the general public to consider and scrutinise the pros and cons of the situation before a potentially irreversible decision is taken. For any informed judgement on the proposal to be reached, it is surely essential that detailed clarification of a number of important matters is provided. This should include:
01 Access to the report estimating the cost of refurbishment of the existing Central Library. Without supporting documentation, a question mark will hover over any plan to demolish.
02 Access to the primary brief, any detailed architectural to-scale floor plans and associated documents relating to the proposed new building, permitting a clear comparison with the type and scale of accommodation in the existing building.
03 A detailed cost breakdown for the new building, identification of funding sources, categorical assurances that all the necessary funding will be in place before any irrevocable decision is made to proceed with the proposal and that no compromises will be sanctioned after such a decision is taken.
04 Clarification of the ‘commitment to include library and archive users in discussions and plans for the future provision’ to ensure that ‘any alternative provision meets and exceeds what people require, expect and value from the existing service’. How much of the building layout is already set in stone and nonnegotiable? What form will ‘full participation’ take?
It is appreciated that the Cabinet consider the proposal to be the best way of securing a long term future for the library and archives service. It is also appreciated that such a ‘cultural offer’ comes at a time when other local authorities are ‘struggling to keep their libraries and archives open’. Given the way in which this issue has been handled since July 2008, however, given the current worrying economic uncertainties, and given the lack of any hard information so far available, even the most sympathetic observer might feel reticent about endorsing such a project at this stage. In the circumstances, there is now an urgent need to provide access to relevant data, to supply answers to important questions and to ensure that assurances are given in relation to specific concerns. Only by these means will it be possible to create an environment in which a genuinely balanced and critical appraisal of the proposal can start to take shape.
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The proposed Northgate development.
In February 2011, Calderdale Council announced that there were no plans to demolish Halifax Central Library. Now, five months on, Gregory Group, the developer responsible for the new Broad Street Plaza, has put in an offer for the site of Northgate House and the library, which would be demolished to create space for a retail chain store.
Whilst we support retail development in Halifax, we are not convinced by the argument that the town would benefit from the presence of large retail chain stores at the expense of valued cultural assets, and we question why it is that, if these retailers intend to move here, they did not opt for one of the large units on the new Broad Street development when the opportunity was there.
Furthermore, a new proposal to redevelop the area between Horton Street and Church Street would create space for three large retail stores, thereby eliminating the need to demolish Northgate House and the library, including the state-of-the-art archive facilities.
Please engage in the debate: go to
the website of the campaigning group 'Don't Bulldoze Our Library' (DBOL), where you will find suggestions for useful action that you could take.
See our News page for more information and a transcript of Dr John Hargreaves' presentation to the Town Team meeting on 13th January 2011.
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Chairman's Welcome
The Halifax Civic Trust is a voluntary organisation which aims to improve the quality of the Halifax townscape and celebrate, enhance and safeguard the outstanding built and natural environment of Halifax, which John Betjeman famously described as ‘a town of hidden beauty’. By campaigning, raising public awareness, supporting or opposing planning applications as appropriate, we hope to make and keep Halifax an attractive place to live and work.
Anyone can become a member of the Halifax Civic Trust and if, like us, you wish to celebrate and enhance Halifax’s outstanding built and natural environment, we warmly invite you to join us. Our programme of challenging and informative general meetings on a variety of issues relating to the local environment is open to everyone. We also hold an annual awards ceremony at Halifax Town Hall to recognise quality in local building design, construction and refurbishment and regular executive meetings to monitor planning applications and discuss other issues. Individual membership is currently available at only £10.00 per year (£5.00 for students) and corporate membership rates are available on application.
We very much hope that you will decide to join us and strengthen our voice within the local community.
John A. Hargreaves (Chairman)
Bold new vision for Halifax library and town centre
Initial reactions were reported on Wednesday 2nd November: