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DELAY: Authorities predict Heywood Library will now re-open in October
DELAY: Authorities predict Heywood Library will now re-open in October
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Library opening delayed as work runs to October

Lisa Gray
29/ 7/2008

THE re-opening of Heywood Library has been delayed until October – five months after work was due for completion.

The Grade 2 listed building was due to re-open in June following closure last November while major building work was carried out.

But Rochdale Council has now announced that due to work taking ‘longer than anticipated’, residents will be without town centre library services for another 12 weeks.

The main structural work was completed last week, but new shelves now need to be built and then stocked with books.

At last week’s meeting of Rochdale Council, Ted Flynn, cabinet member for community safety and leisure, revealed the delay after Councillor Peter Rush asked for a response detailing when it would open.

Cllr Flynn said at the meeting last Wednesday: "The work to restore the parquet floor has unfortunately taken longer than anticipated.

"The next stage is to install the shelving, which will take eight weeks.

"It will then take another two to three weeks to re-stock the library. We expect the library will now re-open in early autumn."

The iconic 100-year-old building has been closed while work to its outside and interior is carried out.

As well as the floor and shelving, a new heating system has been installed and there will be a walkway to the Phoenix Centre when it opens.

Since the closure, Heywood residents have had the option of using Darnhill Library or any others in the borough.

Doris Dixon, social secretary of Heywood Pensioners’ Association, revealed that some older people have resorted to buying second-hand books because they have found it difficult to get to a library.

She said: "I think many of our members have found it a difficult time."

  • ROCHDALE Council is extending the opening times of Darnhill Library until Heywood Library re-opens. There is currently a wider range of stock at Darnhill, including local studies material, the bestseller collection, newspapers and magazines. There is also free weekly transport on Monday mornings at 10.30am from Church Street outside Heywood Library, returning at 11.30am from Darnhill Library.

    Darnhill Library’s extended opening hours are: Monday 9.30am-1pm, 2pm-7.30pm; Tuesday 9.30am-1pm, 2pm-5.30pm; Wednesday 9.30am-12.30pm; Thursday 9.30am-1pm, 2pm-5.30pm; Friday 9.30am-1pm, 2pm-5.30pm; Saturday 9.30am-1pm, 2pm-4pm


    • | Submit CommentSubmit Comments | View CommentsView Comments(3)


    Most recent 2 of 3 user comments

       Hope the Council got a fixed price contract for the job before they agreed the work.
    C Butterworth, Heywood
    5/08/2008 at 11:07
       This is absolutely typical. In the time it has taken to patch up the library it could have been demolished and rebuilt. I seem to remember plans a few years ago to demolish the library, civic centre and township centre, and replace them with a single, multi-purpose building. These plans have been scrapped in favour of 'restoration' and 'renovation'. I wonder how long it will be before the civic centre, and the library, need further repairs?
    Samilong
    1/08/2008 at 13:51
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