Council bids for cash to transform Whitton Library

12.49.48pm GMT Fri 9th Feb 2007

Whitton Library will be transformed if a bid for lottery cash by Richmond Council succeeds.

The application is to be made to the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) Community Libraries Programme. It's a one-off application which has to be submitted by 30 March and Council officers are currently working out the details. The precise amount of money being sought has yet to be decided. Key priorities for BLF funding include creating library spaces that are exciting and accessible to all and "invigorating" as centres of the community. Schemes also need to be innovative and promote good practice in the ways libraries are designed and run.

Richmond Council's Cabinet Member for Libraries, Cllr John Coombs, who gave the go-ahead for the bid, said this week:

We are planning to mount a strong bid for money under the BLF programme to refurbish Whitton library. If it succeeds, the Nelson Road premises will be transformed. It will be more accessible, better designed and better meet the needs of the community. Libraries are a high priority for the Council and we have a rolling modernisation programme to improve every library branch. The bid is a one-off to refurbish a single building and we are working closely with various partners in the community to ensure it's the best bid we can assemble."

The Big Lottery Fund has a total of £80m to award for library projects throughout the country. The Council expects to hear whether its bid has succeeded by the end of October 2007.