In 2006, Stoke-on-Trent City Council
trumpeted in a
press release:
2006-05-18 £2.4 million for Wedgwood Institute restoration
A landmark Burslem building has been given a £2.4 million boost for restoration.
The Wedgwood Institute is now a step closer to an extensive £5.4 million restoration by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, following today’s funding announcement from regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.
The architecturally significant building was designed by Rudyard Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling, and Robert Edgar in the 1860s and is Grade II* listed. Currently it is only partly used as a library, but office units to encourage businesses into the town could soon be created.
The plans - which now rely on funding being confirmed by the Government Office for the West Midlands - will increase the library space, create 17 office units and restore a 40-seat community lecture theatre. 1,600 sq m will be brought back into use and around 60 jobs will be created as a result.
Stoke-on-Trent Elected Mayor, Mark Meredith, said: “I welcome today’s funding announcement from AWM. This is a key project in the economic and social regeneration of Burslem town centre and is just part of the city's wider renewal.”
Mark
Abrams, Partnerships Director for Staffordshire at Advantage West
Midlands, added: “The transformation of Burslem into a thriving and
sustainable community is a key priority for the agency and the North
Staffordshire Regeneration Zone. This is an example of the excellent
regeneration work on Queen Street’s historic buildings.”
[One
thought on this: "office units to
encourage businesses into the town could soon be
created". Where would the workers park?]
On 4th October
2008, however, the following story appeared in The Sentinel:
New leaf in history of town's old library
Structural problems have closed a town's library.Burslem Library shut suddenly on Thursday and will remain closed until further notice for repair work.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has vowed to regenerate the Grade II* listed building, at the Wedgwood Institute, on Queen Street, and customers have been told to use other libraries nearby in the meantime.
Councillor Hazel Lyth, portfolio holder for enterprise and culture at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "It is well-known that the Wedgwood Institute and Burslem Library are in need of long-term renovation, improvement and structural works.
"We are putting together proposals through the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership, together with the Burslem Regeneration Company, for the comprehensive regeneration of this building.
"The
city council is committed to
making best use of this building, which is an iconic symbol of both
Burslem and Stoke-on-Trent."In the meantime we will assess how much short-term work is required to allow the library to re-open.
"We are unable to say what that work is and how much it would cost until we have made an assessment next week."
The regeneration of the building, which was built in 1869, has been welcomed by Burslem historian Fred Hughes, but he said the library should be moved to another building in the town while the work takes place.
He said: "It is okay the council saying the building is going to be subject to a regeneration project but the public want to see some evidence of this now. We want some plans to look at."
He said: "While I welcome the regeneration, the public has a right to a library and a new home for it should be found."
Ward councillor Mohammed Pervez said he will fight for the library to be kept in Burslem.
He said: "I am going to be asking for a meeting with officers to discuss the future of the library. We may have to look at alternative solutions, such as Ceramica, and explore options there."
...The City Council treats, and has for years treated, the Wedgwood Institute like an empty, derelict building, in spite the fact that it is well used. It is clear to all its users that there has been no investment for years if not decades. On the question of usage, we can not think of anywhere else in Burslem where the public can use the Internet.
"We may have to look at alternative solutions, such as Ceramica, and explore options there". We once again come back to that perennial problem for the Council has: PUBLIC CONSULTATION or, more accurately, LACK OF PROPER CONSULTATION. If "we" means the Council and People of Burslem, well and good. If "we" means the odd Councillors, Officers or Suits from NSRP or the Burslem Regeneration Company, there is a MAJOR problem. One quite important fact that ought to, but probably will not, occur to anyone considering alternative solutions is that a lot of people struggle to get across the road. Another fact that will probably be totally ignored: Ceramica (the Old Town Hall bit) could be a sustainable visitor attraction with a bit more investment and support.
Work should have started on the Wedgwood Institute last year. The Council had millions of pounds to spend. It was generally known that the library was going to be temporarily moved to Ceramica (i.e. the old Town Hall, not the spiked abomination). What happened?
"It is well-known that the Wedgwood
Institute and
Burslem Library are in need of long-term renovation, improvement and
structural works". I'm sorry, but what happened to the
2.4 million quid that the Council got from AWM in 2006 for exactly that
purpose?
"We
are putting together proposals through the North Staffordshire
Regeneration Partnership, together with the Burslem Regeneration
Company, for the comprehensive regeneration of this building". Just how long does it take to
put proposals together? Will these, and alternative, proposals be put
out for proper CONSULTATION?
Judging by the Council's previous record, probably not.
"The city council is
committed to
making best use of this building, which is an iconic symbol of both
Burslem and Stoke-on-Trent".
Please, no more live/work
units! May we remind Ms. Lyth that the Wedgewood
Institute was built with funds
raised by public subscription to make arts, science and literature available to all,
not just the rich who
had previously had the only access. It was also designed to be the main
centre
for arts activity in the Six Towns of the Potteries. Therefore, the
best use for this building, paid for by public donations, can be
nothing other than for the access of arts, science and literature (in
the form of a library).
It seems
very strange that the City Council is constantly harping on about how
bad the education system of S-o-T is, yet they have shut (hopefully
temporarily, but we won't hold our breath) a town library and are
talking about cutting the mobile library service. Once again, the
people of Burslem are expected to go to Tunstall or Hanley. The
Wedgwood Institute should remain, at least partially, as a library,
with more investment and
a proper maintenence programme, so extending its intended use as a
centre for free learning.
The
library is another of those valuable assets, like Dimensions, the
Ceramica exhibition itself, and, of course, the Indoor Market, that
will
quietly slip away if the Suits get their way, because its users are
largely the poor and powerless. Without the library in Burslem, many
people, when they have an hour to spare will
have nowhere to go but the pub or the
betting shop.
That's
a crassly stupid way to push people.
Let's all remain very positive, and look forward to the refurbishment of our Wedgwood Institute to include a new, lovely, modern library. Nobody must be allowed to sneak through plans that will close the building to ordinary Boslemites.
It's never too late! But we shudder to think the amount of money that has already been spent on plans and proposals that will probably shut this iconic edifice to the public. The easiest way would have been to ask the public what they wanted to happen to the building. Did that thought penetrated the brain of any of the Suits? Doubt it.
This can be found at whitellama.blogspot.com/2008/10/bring-back-our-library.html
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Free digital revolushun. Ur doin it rong. The sudden closure of Burslem Library last week left me feeling really disappointed.
Sited inside the city's finest building, the Wedgwood Institute, the library is one of those places whose value often goes unnoticed. When I first moved to Burslem, two rooms of the crumbling listed building were being used and through the window you could see some fairly dusty-looking bookshelves. By the time I found myself in Burslem during the day, the library had shrunk into one room, with the rest of this fine building taped off to all those without hard hats.
Despite its very obvious neglect, the library was a haven for me and many others. Inside I could spend the odd hour for free, discovering long-gone voices of Burslem shoppers, child miners and characters. There was the internet.
A long time ago, as can be seen on Stoke council's website, millions of pounds were granted to refurbish the building. Expanded library space would have been shared with business units and the lecture theatre would have been restored. See and regret that the completion date should have been August this year.
Instead, the project got dragged into the very complex and expensive business of reshuffling North Staffs agencies and 'put on hold' while a coherent vision for everything could be developed. It is still on hold. While it is fair that money should be spent carefully, this was funding granted to restore a specific building of great significance to the city. Nobody would have argued that the building needed to be restored, so it would have been better to get on with it than have it eventually shut down altogether after becoming a danger to the public. That a fine building with such an illustrious history should have been allowed to degenerate is not the fault of any individual but of systematic failure going back generations. It's a far cry from the original vision, built by public subscription to widen out access to education.
Today, because no plans could be put into place for the library, it has shut without any warning. This is, hopefully, temporary, but this is a very stretchable word in Stoke. The closure means that between the A500 and the Haywood Learning Centre (virtually the whole of the Burslem South ward), there is no free internet access available to the public (if there are any exceptions to this please let me know).
With all the government efforts towards digital engagement, the fact that this could happen in one of the most deprived wards in the country should be a cause of concern to politicians nationally. Not least because we have two important processes going on right now: the Slater Street Public Inquiry and the masterplanning process for Middleport. Those on broadband can follow these processes online and can have our say by email, blogs or on discussion boards should we so wish; we can read updates on websites. In a library, even the web-averse could read about this matter of public interest in the Sentinel for free. If you can't afford a computer and broadband, or you can't get through the credit check to have broadband then you go back to being as disconnected as you ever have been.
Like so much, people will point to alternatives. All that is in Tunstall, they will say, or Hanley. Haven't got a car? Just get a bus. Walk, it's good for you! All of which is of little use to those with limited mobility, no money, those feeling a little isolated or frightened to take to the streets or to gamble with the public transport system. There's a certain time and feeling in Burslem, after about 3 when most of the shops have usually closed for the day, when you don't have quite enough money even for a lemonade in the Leopard. It's a time when your heart can really sink as you look over the empty buildings and the closed shops. The antidote to this feeling was the library, not in Tunstall or Hanley or up any hill, but in Burslem.
The closure also came in the same week as twinkly-eyed minister for culture Andy Burnham launched a debate on the future of libraries. To which our only answer can be "yes, we'd like one of those please".
So, as is right and proper in these circumstances, I've set up a Facebook group to retain a virtual community in support of, first, having a library at all and secondly, to have a fully developed and fabulous library in the place that our forefathers built for us. So, if you can get online and feel so inclined, please join and show your support with a little gentle badgering of your elected representatives.
