7:10pm Monday 6th July 2009
By Darren Slade
THERE is no alternative to controversial plans to expand Christchurch’s library by swallowing up a café next door, council officers have said.
Nearly 6,000 people had signed a petition urging councillors to save High Street business Kelly’s Kitchen.
They were given renewed hope after Dorset County Council’s planning committee told officers to go away and look at other ways of expanding the library.
But in a letter seen by the Daily Echo, a senior council officer concludes there is “no practical alternative” to extending the library into Kelly’s Kitchen.
The café’s owners claim its closure would hit the High Street hard at a time when a string of shop units are already standing empty.
One shop, previously home to the Birthdays card retailer, currently displays a Grim Reaper model in its window.
Dorset County Council’s head of property management Mike Harries says in his letter that it was an “inescapable fact” that the library was too small for the town’s 40,000 population.
The option of expanding into the library’s garden would impinge on listed garden walls or mean building a two-storey extension, he said.
Mr Harries said there were already 10 cafes and restaurants within 350 metres of the library and a further 11 nearby.
Removing one would not affect the vitality of the town centre.
But the business’s owner Terry Kelly said he was “disappointed” and hoped councillors would not agree with the officers.
“The county council have made no attempt to instruct architects to look at other alternatives,” he said.
“We have offered to help and work with them to find a solution for Christchurch to have a larger improved library and still retain Kelly’s Kitchen as requested.”
He added: “The loss of Kelly’s Kitchen will be detrimental to the vitality and viability of Christchurch high street.
“Its close proximity to the bus stops, level entrance and table service make this facility particularly suitable for the many elderly and disabled residents and visitors to Christchurch High Street.”
A statement from the county council would only confirm that the library service had been asked in May to reconsider its plans and that its conclusions would be presented to the planning committee on August 7.
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