Opposition Tories have launched a bid to stop the proposed relocation of Central Library from its historic, Grade I-listed home. Bristol City Council’s Labour administration has suggested the controversial move to another building somewhere in the city centre to save money as part of huge budget cuts.
Conservative group leader Cllr Mark Weston has now tabled a motion to full council on Tuesday (January 10) seeking the local authority’s “emphatic opposition” to the library being “evicted” from College Green. No alternative base has yet been identified publicly and council bosses have said it is “just an idea” being considered among other ways to save £1.4million – about one-third – from the library service’s funding for 2023/24.
Labour cabinet member for communities Cllr Ellie King told a council meeting in November that it could potentially move into the ground floor of the former Debenhams store in Broadmead, although it was not clear whether this was under serious consideration or even possible. Cllr Weston’s motion said: “This council is disappointed that, once again, the Labour administration seems to be considering or toying with the highly controversial idea of moving the Central Library to another location.
