Purpose

A proposal to move the
Dewsbury Library to The Walsh Building was considered as part of
the Asset Review Report presented at the Cabinet meeting held on
26th September 2023.
 
The Walsh building is
identified as having available capacity which is proposed to be
repurposed and made fit for purpose to support wider council
services. This will be funded and delivered within existing
corporate landlord baseline budgets.
 
This creates an opportunity
to support the delivery of a modernised service hub including the
Library Hub service in a refurbished building.
 
The decision was delegated
to the Strategic Director of Adults and Health and Portfolio holder
once consultation had been carried out.
 
Consultation
 
A
seven-week inclusive, accessible non-statutory consultation took
place between 27th November 2023 – 15th January 2024. The
consultation was available to all members of the public, both
library and non-library users. This was also inclusive to key
stakeholder including but not exclusive to ward councillors,
friends of groups and community partners.
 
The purpose of this consultation was to:
 

a.  inform any decision around relocating the current
library provision in Dewsbury.
 

b.  provide insight into what the community would
value the most in a relocated library; being shaped by the voices
of the community using it and to give their opinion on the
proposal.
 

c.   to provide the Strategic Director for Adults
and Health a report following the consultation to inform a decision
about moving Dewsbury Library into the Walsh building.
 
Background
Information
 
The original proposal and
delegation of the decisions to the Strategic Direct can be found in
the following Cabinet Report:
 

Asset Review Report
 
The consultation carried out can be found on the Kirklees
Involve website:
 

Involve: Batley & Dewsbury Library
Consultation
 

Content

The decision was made to move Dewsbury Library from the existing
building to the Walsh Building once the site is made available and
the refurbishment and repurposing works have been
completed.