A petition signed by more than 1,800 people went before an online meeting of Bradford Council. It was presented by Jane Lee, who chairs the Friends of Keighley’s Carnegie Library. She said the North Street building was the first public Carnegie library and was a vital part of the town centre. “A full, transparent, public and wide-ranging study should be carried out to establish a secure financial future for our library in Keighley and all the other libraries in the Bradford district,” she said. There was criticism at the meeting of the £420,000 Bradford Council pays each year to rent space for City Library.
And one Councillor called for Council bosses to hold an urgent review of the facility s costs. The eye watering rent costs that the Council pays for the City Park library emerged last year during a debate on a planned shake up of the library service. The city centre library moved into the unit, overlooking the mirror pool, in 2013. It was previously based in what is now Margaret Macmillan Tower, but that building was condemned as a fire risk in 2011 and was dealt a further blow in 2013 when asbestos was found throughout the building. The old library has since been refurbished and is home to the Council s Children s Services department.