Hatch End Library could be relocated into Harrow Arts Centre

Labour-run Harrow Council's cabinet committee meets this evening (Thursday) to discuss the plans, which have been broadly welcomed by residents although they said they would like to see more details.

Councillor David Perry, portfolio holder for cultural services, said: "During our Let's Talk campaign, people fed back to us that the opening hours are not as suitable for them as they could be.

"We conducted an hour-by-hour usage analysis for the libraries for one week in September and we will be reviewing it.

"People also have concerns about the location and accessibility of Rayners Lane Library. It can't be made Disability Discrimination Act compliant.

"The administration is seeking possible relocation although we haven't got any got any sites in mind at the moment."

Ann Scotter, of Kings Road, South Harrow, and a member of Eastcote Lane Tenants' and Residents' Association, said: "I can see the problem. I used to take my grandchildren there and I had to hump the pushchair down the stairs.

"There's nowhere I can think of locally to where they would be able to move the library so is there a way of putting a lift in the existing building?"

Council leader Bill Stephenson said the Civic Centre Library needs to be vacated as part of wider plans to redevelop the Harrow Civic Centre site in Station Road, Harrow, while Gayton Library in St John's Road, Harrow, was only ever intended to be a temporary home.

The council is making enquiries as to whether a purpose-built library building could be incorporated into any future town centre development.

Mr Stephenson added: "We're trying to make Harrow Arts Centre a community hub. By relocating Hatch End Library, we can improve the experience that people have there.

"The floor of the current site of Hatch End Library is a sprung floor which is very good for gymnastics so there is an opportunity to make any extra facility for the community."

Vacant space on the ground floor of the arts centre could be cleared to create space for the relocation and neither the arts centre nor the library would need to close to accommodate the move, the Observer was told.

Georgina Butcher, life president of Harrow University Of The Third Age which meets at the arts centre, said: "It's an interesting idea and I would like to know more about it.

"It's a good idea in principle because you're going to get more people coming in but where are they going to put the library and is it going to interrupt people's classes?"

The council wants to amalgamate the Gayton Library and Civic Centre Libraries into one town centre site with a similar floorplan and facilities, and to introduce wi-fi internet and replace the outdated public computers at all 11 branches.

Libraries are not the only service run by the cultural department that could be given a boost, however.

Mr Perry said: "The recommendation to the cabinet committee [this evening] is for officers to prepare and submit a grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant of up to £2million to restore Harrow Museum and Heritage Centre to preserve the historic site for future generations."

The money - which the council would have to match out of its own pocket - would pay for the physical restoration of the buildings as well as improving access Headstone Manor, which is currently only open to the public in the form of summer weekend guided tours, and making over the neighbouring Tithe Barn, home of the museum, and allowing it to be privately hired and a source of income.

Harrow Council believes it could cut costs by outsourcing the day-to-day management of its libraries, along with Ealing's libraries, to a third party and doing a similar thing with Harrow, Brent and Ealing's leisure centres when the two-year contract with social enterprise Greenwich Leisure expires next year.

"We'd like to explore joined-up working with partner boroughs by taking forward our libraries and leisure services," said Mr Perry.

"This could be via a social enterprise or a trust in order to make the savings we have spoken about before."