Purpose

Batley Town Hall is
identified as having available capacity which is proposed to be
repurposed and made fit for purpose to support wider council
services.
 
This creates an opportunity
to support the delivery of a modernised Library provision in a
refurbished building.
 
This would release the
Batley Library building, which requires extensive investment, as
surplus to organisational requirements.
 
The decision was delegated
to the Strategic Director of Adults and Health and Portfolio holder
once consultation had been carried out.
 
Background
information
 
The original proposal and
delegation of the decisions to the Strategic Director can be found
in the following Cabinet Report:
 

Asset Review Report
 
The consultation carried out
can be found on the Kirklees Involve website:
 

Involve: Batley & Dewsbury Library
Consultation
 
Consultation
 
A seven-week inclusive,
accessible non-statutory consultation took place between 27th
November 2023 – 15th January 2024. The consultation was
available to all members of the public, both library and
non-library users. This was also inclusive to key stakeholder
including but not exclusive to ward councillors, friends of groups
and community partners.
 
The purpose of this
consultation was to:
 
a.  inform
any decision around relocating the current library provision in
Batley.
 
b.  provide insight into what the
community would value the most in a relocated library; being shaped
by the voices of the community using it and to give their opinion
on the proposal.
 
c.   to provide the Strategic
Director for Adults and Health a report following the consultation
to inform a decision about moving Batley Library to the Batley Town
Hall Building
 
Engagement with the Batley Friends of Group and Batley ward
Councillors
continued following the formal consultation and the feedback
received formed
part of
the decision making process.
 

Content

The decision was made not to
move Batley Library from the existing Carnegie building to the
Batley Town Hall Building.