Work set to start on Street Library and Parish Rooms redesign

Building work will start on Monday (July 6) on Street Library's new home so it can deliver more services for the residents and members.

Street Parish Council and the Friends of Street Library have been working closely with the Somerset County Council to design a new layout for the village's Parish Rooms, which will be refurbished and will be the new home for the library once the work in completed.

Both floors will be accessible for community use and the ground floor will be more open plan, with new furniture, more books, and computers.

It will have a brighter feel and be specially configured to better serve the people of Street. The plans if to have it reopen some time in November.

The work is being undertaken by Melhuish and Saunders, the building contractor which is based in Glastonbury.

With the building work forging ahead, the parish council is also pleased to announce that a new permanent Community Library Partnership agreement to replace the previous temporary agreement has now been signed between the parish council, Somerset County Council and The Friends of Street Library enabling library provision to continue in the newly-refurbished Parish Rooms for the foreseeable future.

Councillor David Hall, Somerset County Council's Cabinet Member with responsibility for libraries, said: "It's great that all involved with Street Library have been pro-active in the past few months and agreed to a new design of the building.

"The work will vastly improve the facilities in Street and the service currently on offer, along with the public's experience of the library when it reopens. It will be worth the wait."

Friends of Street Library Chair, Claire Axten, would like to thank Street Parish Council for their commitment in redesigning the present building, to give Street top class library facilities.

She said: "We look forward to continuing our work with both the parish and county council, providing volunteers to support the new building, when it opens.

Also there are plans for the library bus to visit Street from sometime in August.

Chair of Street Parish Council, Peter Goater, said: "I am pleased to finally redress some of the maintenance issues and provide a much-improved space for the library and the council to work in.

"I would also like to say a special thank you to Landsec, the management company of Clarks Village, for their considerable support during this process."

The former library building will be undergoing repairs itself at some point in the future, with the future use of the site yet to be decided.