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Libraries Under Threat

I am afraid the town planners will do what they want as public consultations are just for show. As they did to the door to door bus service for OAPS and disabled people here and all the mobile services like the library.My late mum was publicly blanked at a meeting by the then councillor holding the debate that she and my dad attended.Dad was on the Cov Senior Citizens' Council. Didn't do any good though. Maybe you need a celebrity behind you like Joanna Lumley's ilk? Best Wishes, Nico
 
I presume when the term 'Town Planner' is used above it refers actually to the Councillors rather than the paid member of the Planning department? I may be incorrect but would not wish the 'Paid Hands' to be blamed for the Employers actions.
 
I meant what I said. Town Planners and Councillors alike and anyone else who plays their part who takes the King's shilling. Who does the bidding of the electorate and or the Town Planners, or the Town Planners acting on what the Council Dictates. Council is said loosely with a big umbrella. Everybody has options in life. You either do as you are bid, or you have your say if you don't agree. Then you take the consequences, as I have done. I shall not go in to details as it would be off the topic.
 
Bernard

I don't think any of the Town Planners were mere pawns of Birmingham Council, Manzoni and Maudsley certainly weren't. The one thought he could do whatever he wanted with our city and the other was just given too much free rein and autonomy. Since those days there has been major shake ups in the Engineering and Planning Department but I think that all the planning department has to do with public works is to submit them to a Council committee for approval.
 
Me too Charlie, I used that library through my school years and after. Such a very special building, what will they do with it before it gets vandalised I wonder? Long before Tesco got next door to it, there used to be a really good chemist shop on that site, which again was used all the time by us lot.
 
When I worked for the newpaper my colleague, the industrial rep, saw a sneak preview of a 'proposed' council plan for the site of the then still viable Standard Triumph factory. We all laughed at this saying it was not feasable. It had plans for a hotel, housing, offices, a pub, filling station. shops a supermarket green space and a new road layout. 15 years on despite several different councils at the helm, it happened. And it's a mess, still, umpteen years after that. My point being is that they will do what they want whatever anybody else, and by that I mean us, says.
 
well guys whom is ever to blame but at the end of the day they are al council workers and it sounds they may put an compulsive oder on them tescos
to make way for the model tram lines or train lines all thee moves have to be planned well in the future and i gree what nico as said but whom ever they are or what you want to call them its down to the committe are they gov officiers or councill workers yes there is a difference between them as bernard as said best wishes astonian;;
 
Returning to the subject of the Spring Hill Library, which as a young person' I was well acquainted with its exterior appearance. Not living within the Birmingham City boundaries meant I used the Solihull libraries but as a youngster week ends were usually free from books having had my fill of them during the week. :friendly_wink:
Spring Hill library is a beautiful building blighted it seems by the ghastly looking supermarket built alongside. I looked at the area on Google maps and noted that apart from what appears to be the Superstore car park there was little parking in the area. I was not sure about street parking availabilities but success, it seems, for many things these days means that close by there needs to be a car park. Well, it certainly seems to be the case in the South West. Places not near a reasonably priced car park have a struggle to survive: hence the demise of many small town shopping centres.
A good bus service is a great help and I am sure that Spring Hill/Icknield Street is still well served: I know senior citizens in Birmingham have had free travel for many, many years which is a recent thing many places elsewhere of course. So senior citizens should be able to visit the place reasonably easily. That, of course. depends on their start out point I suppose.
I suppose if the building ceased to be a library there has to be some other valuable and needed use that it could be put to. Time will tell, I guess.
Looking at the Google page I noticed that very little,that was there many years ago, has now disappeared, far more modern housing has been built.
 
Spoke to my partner about this post. She uses the research partof our library which has relocated to the Art Gallery and Museum. She preferes this venue as in the old one she noted that most of the people came in because it had a toilet facility. Another thing lacking.
 
Hi radio rails Alan
Yes I grew up there yards from the spring hill library and pased it a million times a day and it was a very busy shopping area for all the people of hockley and Ladywood and some parts of edgbaston. All came down to spring hill there was a variety of pubs and grocers and butchers and hardware and music shops
And a couple of coffee shops there was plenty of activities for kids as well two parks what we called the wreck and the sand Pitts to play on swell two picture houses
We had it all the story of the theory was growing up there would be a major bye pas coming up from hockley
Brook but it was the seven this they started to demo the whole area and left as been war zone for he on twenty years since from top of monument red
Down through icneild street and the brook I am surprised they ain't demo the flat at key hill if you walked up from the library heading up the monument red
Towards edbaston you would be shocked to see what is left especially if you lived and knew the old area like I do ickneild port red is the same no think standing
Dockers paint and the whole of rotten park street is wide open down to the cut its crazy man believe. Me I would love to know where have all the people and family's have gone best wishes Alan astonian
 
Radiorails said:
Returning to the subject of the Spring Hill Library, which as a young person' I was well acquainted with its exterior appearance. Not living within the Birmingham City boundaries meant I used the Solihull libraries but as a youngster week ends were usually free from books having had my fill of them during the week. :friendly_wink:
Spring Hill library is a beautiful building blighted it seems by the ghastly looking supermarket built alongside. I looked at the area on Google maps and noted that apart from what appears to be the Superstore car park there was little parking in the area. I was not sure about street parking availabilities but success, it seems, for many things these days means that close by there needs to be a car park. Well, it certainly seems to be the case in the South West. Places not near a reasonably priced car park have a struggle to survive: hence the demise of many small town shopping centres.
A good bus service is a great help and I am sure that Spring Hill/Icknield Street is still well served: I know senior citizens in Birmingham have had free travel for many, many years which is a recent thing many places elsewhere of course. So senior citizens should be able to visit the place reasonably easily. That, of course. depends on their start out point I suppose.
I suppose if the building ceased to be a library there has to be some other valuable and needed use that it could be put to. Time will tell, I guess.
Looking at the Google page I noticed that very little,that was there many years ago, has now disappeared, far more modern housing has been built.
Click to expand...

If it wasn't for Tescos Spring Hill Library wouldn't have lasted this long as mentioned before they kind of saved it by helping with refurbishment costs and won an award for their work, Tescos are no mugs and if it was dead around there they wouldn't have built it. I've visited a couple of times and it was very busy, the number 8 bus stop is right outside.
 
Exactly the point I made in the first paragraph of my post #31, Alan. Knock down all the houses and people move away from the area. They're not going to wait around to see if new houses are eventually built - and they probably couldn't afford them anyway.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
Exactly the point I made in the first paragraph of my post #31, Alan. Knock down all the houses and people move away from the area. They're not going to wait around to see if new houses are eventually built - and they probably couldn't afford them anyway.

Maurice
Click to expand...
That part of Hockley is nearly all council property built in the late sixties, some of it is still decent. There's a sheltered housing complex virtually next door. The Jewelry qtr has seen an increase in apartment type property but they're not overly priced...
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/p...sults_sort=newest_listings&search_source=home
 
Reading this thread reminds me of when as a youngster I joined Perry Common library in the late 1940s. I found it slightly intimidating inside, no talking, strict silence and fines for late returns. They allowed borrowing of four books and two of them had to be non fiction, and the first book I borrowed was about the Solar System. I think the library is still there and hope it has a future, it is probably very different inside these days. I was a member of various libraries over many years but for some reason just stopped using them, maybe because the 9 to 5 job I had in the 1970s changed to 12 hour days in the 1990s and the lure of computers. In the 1950s I passed by the Spring Hill library four times a week and often glanced up at the clock on my way to another building not far from there. It's good to see the library is still there even though it is tightly embraced by the supermarket.
 
Now you're talking Phil. Perry Common Library. Spent many, many hours in there, a great local library. Comforting sort of place with a head librarian you didn't mess with. When I last looked it was still there and I seem to remember seeing that they ran all sorts of community services. I think maybe the ones that make a serious effort to serve the local community have a better chance of survival. Also the catchment area is predominantly residential, well from what I remember. It would have been much easier for me to go to Kingstanding library but I never went there because you couldn't beat Perry Common for its range of material and the feeling of the place. Viv.
 
This thread seems to have been very active and has gone far beyond the boundaries of the City: it seems most areas of the Country are in the same boat.

For fear of being banned, or at the least my post being deleted, I will not make much comment regarding a certain supermarket. Just to say that their modus operandii is well known as people living in some Devon and Yorkshire towns have found out.
 
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