A viable alternative

Central Library and Graves Art Gallery. Picture: Andrew Roe

I was not surprised upon hearing the news of proposed plans to turn Sheffield Central Library into a five-star hotel.

There are several things which I would ask readers to consider when making up their minds on this issue. It appears that the figure quoted to refurbish and update the Central Library is debatable given that no actual quote to carry out the work has been obtained by the council.

Also other cities such as Liverpool, Oldham and many others have set up expensive PFI deals when building their new central libraries.

What Sheffield doesn’t need is another expensive PFI deal to saddle the city with another load of debt, not to mention the inflexibility such deals present which has the potential to cause huge problems down the line (the Sheffield trees fiasco springs to mind).

A quote to refurbish the present library needs obtaining and giving full consideration as a viable alternative to turning this beloved library into a faceless five-star hotel.

Martin Vaughan

Stannington Road, S6