Newport Town Council set to sign 100-year library lease with plans to return it to 'former level'

Newport Library is set to be taken over by the town’s council in April as they work to secure its future.

Last month’s the town council announced a 12.93 per cent increase in council tax to fund the takeover from Telford & Wrekin Council.

Newport Town Council held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday when it was agreed that they would sign a 100-year lease of the High Street library from a private owner.

Newport mayor Ian Perry said that the ‘main reason’ for the long lease was to give them more options to apply for grants.

He added that the council has also set aside £30,000 from their own reserves to pay towards required work.

“We will get some grants from various sources and depending on how much we get in grants will decide how much we will do,” said councillor Perry.

“We’ve got the building on a peppercorn rent which has been agreed and continued with.

“Having it for 100 years gives lots more optimism that we’re not just going to keep it going for three years.

“When it comes to getting grants they like it (longer leases). We’re doing our best to make sure that we’ve got a much better service than we had before.”

Newport Town Council is set to take over the library in April. The mayor has warned that improving the service and building will take time and might involve a temporary closure.

“We intend to start from the same sort of position that the library was before it became ours and then improve it over the period, so it’s a better service than it was before,” councillor Perry added.

“It needs quite a lot of work doing to bring it back to its former level. It may well be that it's closed for a while around that time while we’re making it nicer.

“The odds are it will be closed for a while, not for a long time, but if you’re going to do more than a lick of paint then you’ve got no choice.

“I know some of the heating needs looking at and the lighting. It also needs updating so that it’s a bit greener, the building came from Tuckers so hasn’t really been done since Tuckers fell down in the 80s.

“It just needs updating, as do a lot of houses and places when they are that sort of age.

“It’s going to take time, we can’t turn it into an all singing and dancing facility by the start of April.”