WE want to formally express our deep concern for the future of Atherton Library.

The move into the community hub (the old town hall) is not a move we would support.

A library is a place to go in relative peace and quiet to relax, browse books, savour the atmosphere and use computers – a place of quiet, reflection and study.

The community hub will be just a room where you electronically order a book. This is not a library in the true sense. This is a book ordering service and is not reflective of a town with a population of 22,000 and rising.

The new developments in the area are bringing almost 3,000 new homes. The first port of call will be a library – in Atherton – close to the town centre.

The library is also used every day for tots’ groups, community gatherings and author readings, in addition to school visits.

With National Library Week approaching we have started to review the steps we can take to save this valuable community asset from being torn from the town and turned into a computer drop-off point.

The community hub may seem on first appearance a venue that will be an asset. However once you delve into the detail it appears to be a smokescreen of a way to lose the library’s identity and heritage.

The only other asset within the building appears to be a charity café, which can be put in any location within the town centre and we can see no more additional value within the building.

The association is not against any community hub per se, but not at the expense of our library.

A more viable and sensible alternative would be to keep the library, open the hub for the disabled and/or young people’s training and to rent out the town hall at sensible rates for increased commercial enterprise.

This proposal is also reflective of the one in 2014 and is something we would support rather lose our valued heritage.

Furthermore no-one within the association was aware of any consultations taking place.

It is a pity that the town hall, library and technical college are not listed buildings and we urge the council to rethink its proposals.

The operational costs of running the library are a minuscule amount of the council’s reserves, so why should it be that Atherton loses out on civic buildings again?

Atherton Residents Association