Villagers in Peasedown St John are counting down to the opening of their new community library, following a year of campaigning by councillors for the facility to be created.
Over a year ago, local councillors Karen Walker and Sarah Bevan (Independents) launched a campaign to open the service, in the wake of cuts to the mobile library service.
Following on from a meeting with Council Directors, Cabinet Members, the local councillors and Peasedown St John Residents’ Association in February 2018, a steering group was put together to manage the village’s application.
Cllr Karen Walker said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has responded to surveys, given up their time, delivered leaflets, come along to meetings and baked cakes!
“Over 2,700 households received a survey from us last Autumn asking for their views on whether or not they wanted to see a village library, where they thought it should be located, and if they would like to volunteer. The response was fantastic!”
A steering group, led by Karen and Sarah, has seen:
- 20 volunteers recruited;
- An arrangement with Curo for St John’s Community Hall, St John’s Close, to be used for free to house the new library;
- Assurances/pledges of over £5,000 in funding to launch the project;
- A Full Application submitted to B&NES Council, which is now being assessed by the Local Authority’s legal department;
- A logo created for the library, following public consultation.
Cllr Sarah Bevan added: “We’re now waiting for B&NES Council to make the final decision on our library application. We’ve been working on creating policies and firming up the application for over a year, so we’re confident they’ll look on it favourably.
“We’d also like to thank our Community Partners, Peasedown St John Primary School and Wansdyke Play Association for supporting our application.”
Anyone who would like to get involved with Peasedown St John Community Library can email peasedownlibrary@hotmail.com.
