Two bidders compete over future of Church Stretton Library
Two groups are set to go head to head to take on Church Stretton Library as a formal bidding process is launched next week.
The library has been the centre of controversy and a protracted legal wrangle in recent years but now Shropshire Council will start afresh on discussions over who will take over the running of the service – and whether it will stay in its current town centre building.
The deadline for expressions of interest in running it was a fortnight ago, with two parties coming forward.
Though the identities of the interested parties are confidential, both Church Stretton School, which had previously hoped to move the service to the school campus on Shrewsbury Road, and Church Stretton Library Support Group, against such a move, had previously indicated that they were considering a bid.
Lee Chapman, Shropshire councillor for Church Stretton and a cabinet member, said the response will be discussed at a council cabinet meeting on Wednesday but no decision will be made as yet.
He said now the bids had to go through a process of actually being submitted and assessed.
Councillor Chapman said: "We have two organisations that have come forward.
"Under the Localism Act it only requires one expression of interest to trigger a procurement process. It will now go through a formal bidding process."
He said it was now up to the two interested organisations to submit a business case – but the field was still open to any other organisation that wanted to come in and bid for taking on the library, even if it had not previously expressed interest.
He said each business case would then be compared against the strict criteria of the library service specification, with officers rather than politicians deciding on the closest fit.
"The decision on where the library goes will not be a decision I will be making and not a decision cabinet will be making, it will be up to council officers," he said.
Shropshire Council's cabinet had previously rubber-stamped a decision to move the library from its town centre building on church street to be run at Church Stretton School.
But there was an outcry from campaigners who wanted to keep the service in the town centre, which came to a head last year with Church Stretton Library Support Group raising a judicial review against the decision, and then invoking the localism act.
Shropshire Council decided not to fight in court and instead asked for fresh expressions of interest in autumn 2016.
