Fight to reopen library in 'deprived' area

Campaigners have questioned why their local council cannot reopen a library in a "deprived" area which closed five years ago.

Wheatley Community Library in Doncaster has remained empty since 2019 and the building's function is currently under review.

The Friends of Wheatley said they believed it still had a future as a library and community centre where events could be held.

Doncaster Council said it recognised libraries were "valuable community assets", but was looking at how the empty building could best serve the local area.

However, Daniel Barwell from The Friends of Wheatley group said the suburb had "no real community facilities" since the library's closure.

Mr Barwell said Wheatley was "a deprived community".

"The library was the hub for Wheatley. It's where people met, it was a home for some people. It closed five years ago for refurbishment and just never reopened again", he said.

Mr Barwell said he had often read in the library as a child and added that there was a primary school nearby.

Speaking of the assets review by the council, Mr Barwell said: "It might get shut down completely, which, after five years of it being closed, seems like the easy option for the council.

"The second option was to demolish the building, and the third was to get rid of the library and put someone else in there, a business who'd rent it. We just want to keep the library, keep that community asset."

A Doncaster Council spokesperson said the authority had no further closures planned across Doncaster.

A review was currently under way, looking at transferring library services to different buildings, they added.

Wheatley was one of a number of branch libraries in the city which became community-run after a raft of council cuts in 2012, when funding and staffing were withdrawn, with many taken over by volunteers.

"For Wheatley Community Library to re-open, we hope the recent petition leads to volunteers coming forward from the community to help support this objective," the spokesperson said.

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