'The perfect Sheffield library location' - Reader's letter
Paige Turner has a location in mind for a new library...
Gleadless Valley ward which Meersbrook Park falls under is designated as being in the top 10% of most deprived neighbourhoods in England.
Key indicators include unemployment rates exceeding 11% for men, a mean household income at just two-thirds of the Sheffield average, and nearly 30% of working-age residents possessing no formal qualifications.
It is therefore the right time for the Gleadless Valley ward councillors to step forward and do what they have failed to do so far.
Campaign and lobby for an increased library provision for this area, and what better location for this than at Meersbrook Hall in Meersbrook Park?
Funding is available from central government to restore historic and listed buildings for current or future use as branch libraries through various funding pots including the libraries improvement fund which have just been used in Sheffield to renovate Hillsborough branch library and in Barnsley to renovate the historic Wombwell Carnegie Library dating from 1905.
A library in Meersbrook Park would capture footfall from children going to and from school at Carfield and Meersbrook Bank primary schools not to mention the many people some of whom will be unemployed or otherwise economically inactive who walk through the park on a daily basis.
Meersbrook Hall Branch Library has a nice ring to it.
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