THE CITY council is planning to put £500,000 into redeveloping Haxby Memorial Hall, so the town’s library can move in.

The existing Haxby and Wigginton Library was closed suddenly last summer after engineers found structural problems made in unsafe.

It has been housed in Oaken Grove Community Centre since, and City of York Council and Explore libraries have bought a new mobile library to serve the area until a new permanent site is ready.

Next Monday, March 13, culture boss Cllr Nigel Ayre will be asked to agree £500,000 of council money for the Memorial Hall redevelopment so the library can have a long-term new home there.

Cllr Ayre said: “It’s important that we take this opportunity to look at how we can provide a library service for the residents of Haxby and Wigginton to enjoy. The proposals align with our long term vision to enable libraries to be more financially viable to help secure their long term future.”

A report prepared for him says putting the library in the Memorial Hall will “fit with the long-term vision for libraries to move from stand alone facilities into community buildings co-located with other partners”, in order to save on overheads by sharing locations and bringing in more people.

Other options have been considered, it adds, including rebuilding on the current site or moving in to Haxby Hall care home, but none are as good as the Memorial Hall plan.

The Memorial Hall’s trustees have plans for a £2 million project over two phases, including the new library extension, new kitchen and toilets, a glazed entrance, extended activity hall and new community rules on the first floor.

Demolition of the closed 1960s library building in Haxby will take place in April, the report adds.