Sherwood – Frustrated families and campaigners staged a protest outside the new Sherwood Library to demand it is finally opened after a series of delays.
In 2020 Nottingham City Council signed a contract with Hockley Developments to demolish the old library in Spondon Street. The developer has since built a new facility, with added commercial space and housing, in its place.
However, problems first became apparent earlier this year, when it emerged the scheme’s previous contractor, Dako Construction Ltd, collapsed into administration.
While a new contractor was found and the library building was handed back to the council at the end of 2023 for the final fit-out, the council says its planned summer opening has been hampered by the discovery of more than 134 defects.
Jackie Finnegan, of Sherwood, attended the protest on Monday, August 19, with her grandchildren.
She said her passion for libraries and books came from her mum, who worked as a librarian at Clarendon College for 24 years.
“It makes me very angry,” she said.
“My mum used to bring me here to the library with my brother. I used to bring my children. It is somewhere really great to go on a wet day, a sunny day, it’s nice to meet people, borrow books and learn.
“I know [the developer] is going to make a profit on the houses and the flats, and probably on Sainsbury’s, so please just finish the library.”
Christina Starbuck, who also lives in Sherwood, said: “It’s really frustrating now that we are having to travel to the not-so-central library.
“People should be liable and held accountable. Come and fix whatever is wrong with it.”
Campaigners also voiced concerns over the proposed closure of the Basford, Bilborough, Radford-Lenton and Aspley libraries.
The city council is looking to save £1.5m over the next two years in its libraries service.
A public consultation will end on Monday, August 19.
At the final public consultation meeting on Thursday, August 15, Cllr Sam Lux, executive member for carbon reduction, leisure and culture, said she shares the frustrations.
“It is partly because of the health and safety problems that we are really reluctant to open the building before those are fully-resolved,” she said.
“To a certain extent our hands are tied at the moment because the work has to be done and there is a contractual obligation for the developer to provide remedies to those snags.
“We have been on the case for a long time, chasing them weekly. We recently had to bring to the table the idea of legal action and since then we have seen improvement and acceleration in those issues.
“We are really hoping we can get those over the line as soon as possible, but we aren’t in a position to provide an opening date.”
Hockley Developments has been contacted for comment, but a spokesperson said at the beginning of August: “On any new build there will be snags.
“[The] industry standard is a 12-month snagging period, and our after care manager is working through these daily with the council, and has made excellent progress recently, and we believe the final snags should be completed by the end of this month, and should not be stopping the rest of the internal fit out taking place.
“Our construction contractors are on site as we develop phase two behind the library, developing 12 new family homes and 22 apartments, and the sub-contractors know to prioritise any snags on phase one.”
