Library’s six-month switch for £1m refurb work

Welshpool library is set to move again for six months to allow for a £1million refurbishment of the building where it is housed to take place.

The facility was squeezed in with the Powysland Museum after Powys County Council ignored popular opinion to close its purpose-built facility five years ago.

This was despite hundreds of people demonstrating through the town centre and thousands more signing a petition to keep it open.

The decision was made to allow council staff to use the building due to them offloading the Neuadd Maldwyn facility, but many now work from home or remotely following the Covid crisis.

Nevertheless, Powys County Council seems determined to make it work and has announced a £1 million project to create additional floor space under a glass canopy at the site, now called Y Lanfa.

The council said that the heating system will also be upgraded to make it more efficient, adding that it “complements and extends the refurbishment undertaken when the library moved into the building in 2020”.

As a result, the library will close from December 16-23, and then reopen at its new temporary home in the refurbished canalside cottages close by.

There will also be a remodelling of the displays in the Powysland Museum which is now closed to allow this to take place.

“I’m glad that we are going to be able to keep our library service on the Y Lanfa site in Welshpool, while work is being carried out to the main building,” said Cllr Richard Church, Powys County Council’s Cabinet Member for a Safer Powys.

“It’s important to maintain some continuity and visitors to the cottages will be able to see the progress being made on the glass extension, which looks very exciting.

“While this is happening, I would encourage readers in Welshpool and elsewhere in Powys to try out our Order and Collect Service. You just need to tell our library staff what kind of book you like, and they will hand-pick some great books for you to get stuck into.”

Welshpool Library will be open on 23 and 24 December, before closing for Christmas and returning on Friday, January 3.

It will then be open during its usual hours while in the cottages, except for Mondays, when it will close at 5pm instead of 6.30pm.

It will be offering all its usual services but the number of books and computers available to browse and use on site will be limited.

It does, however, have iPads and Chromebooks that can be loaned out and readers are being encouraged to make use of Powys County Council’s Order and Collect service: https://www.storipowys.org.uk/order-collect

For more information on the services available at Welshpool Library, while it is in its temporary home email ylanfa@powys.gov.uk or call: 01938 553001.

NOTE:

The improvements to Y Lanfa are costing around £1 million and are part of the £14 million Montgomery Canal Restoration project that the council was successful in securing UK Government funding towards.

The council has also received £164,000 from the National Lottery’s Heritage Fund towards the work on Y Lanfa and £140,000 from the Welsh Government towards the work on the canalside cottages.

The work is being supported by the council’s Economy and Climate Service, while its Strategic Property Team is managing the build.

To find out more about the Montgomery Canal Restoration Project, visit

https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/13669/Montgomery-Canal-Restoration-Project

PICTURE CAPTION: An artist’s impression of how Y Lanfa will look once completed. Picture: Hughes Architects