Bidders compete over future of Church Stretton Library

Church Stretton 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 hoped to move the service to the campus on Shrewsbury Road, and Church Stretton Library Support Group had previously indicated 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.

He said no decision will be made as yet and 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.