The gym is open but is doing very little trade.  It has been closing half an hour or so before the advertised time, presumably because no one is using it.  Lambeth's own research showed that the gym is not needed.  People who know about the market for gyms have been telling us all along that the location is wrong for a gym and that it will fail to cover its running costs.

Lambeth have made the gym even less appealing by charging a sky high subscription of £40 a month.  The nearest comparable commercial gym appears to be Puregym near Camberwell Green.  This charges £23 a month, reduced to £18 a month if use is confined to the less popular times, comprising weekends, early afternoon during the week and night time.

According to the senior ward councillor, Jim Dickson, Lambeth are due to consider the future of the gym 12 to 18 months after opening.  They are bearing all the losses and there cannot be much doubt that they will close it.  The interesting question is what will then be done with the windowless basement excavated at great expense.  The rental estimates per square foot obtained by the Friends and the Council respectively are a mere £1.50 and £2.50, which is hardly worth the cost of letting and management.

Readers who have been following the history of this matter, will be aware that excavating the basement has been part of Lambeth's plans since at least 2011, though the reason for the excavation has never been disclosed.  Possible uses for the basement, including a gym, were considered but all were rejected.

The excavation of the interior and underpinning carried out at great expense only begins to make sense if it is the first stage of a two-stage process.  The second stage would be excavating externally and inserting windows in the basement.  This would entail the loss of the front garden.  But even if this were done it would not be a good reason to excavate the basement.  The only plan previously disclosed by Lambeth which would justify the excavation is the one announced in 1999, that is, sale of the building for redevelopment as flats.

Other aspects of the recent work also suggest that those designing it are working towards a conversion to flats.  Until a late stage Lambeth were proposing that the internal excavation would be only 2.7 metres deep, which would be enough for basement flats but obviously impractical for gym activities. Conversion to flats would involve building a large extension on the rear of the building and the Council appear to have eased the way for this by destroying as much as possible of the back garden.

We should be ready to campaign against any proposal to excavate the exterior because this would not only be objectionable in itself but also further step towards depriving us of the library.

In 2011 Lambeth Council set up a Project Group for the library building, which subsequently turned itself into a Shadow Trust Board and eventually the Carnegie Community Trust.  The Council is intent on transferring the ground floor of the building and the first floor room to the Trust by way of a long rent-free lease.

The ostensible purpose of setting up the Trust and its predecessors was to replace Council funding with grants from outside bodies.  However, none of those bodies will provide funds for a public library.  They take the view that funding libraries is the responsibility of local government.  The Trust have been telling local people that there will still be a proper library but telling grant-making bodies that there will not be a proper library!

The Friends' committee were concerned to hear that the Trust has succeeded in obtaining a small grant from Heritage Lottery Fund.  We therefore obtained from the Fund a copy of the application.  It is seriously misleading about:

• The extent to which the building is and can be expected to remain a public library.  The library use is and always has been the main use.  The current indications from Lambeth Council are that they will require this to continue for the foreseeable future.
• Past and future activities in the building.
• Supposed community and other support for the Trust.

We have therefore written to the Fund pointing out inaccuracies in the application.  Herewith are copies of our letter and a plan and email correspondence sent with it.

Letter to HLF

Correspondence with CCT

Library plan

The Friends have obtained four documents under the Freedom of Information legislation relating to the assessment of the business plans submitted to Lambeth by Carnegie Community Trust and the democratic Carnegie Library Association respectively in support of their competing bids to take over the building. Below are links to these and a copy of the assessment published by Lambeth.  We are still battling to obtain a copy of the Trust's full business plan.

The documents obtained confirm that the Trust's plan is essentially to exclude the library, though a "limited number of books" would be available and it is envisaged that there will still be two-hour visits from librarians.  Instead of a library the Trust propose to have a cafe or cafe bar run entirely by volunteers and serving hot and cold meals as "the real social centre."

The obvious question is what is wrong with a library?  The answer  seems to be that it is "seen as white elitist - catchment area is multi-cultural; building does not offer anything for some communities."  This bigoted nonsense appears to be part of a wider problem with senior people at the council.  The local branch of the Labour Party is demanding action to counter "a growing problem of institutional racism in Lambeth Council" and UNISON has published some disturbing figures on its website: https://lambeth-unison.org/2018/04/30/lambeth-council-staff-restructure-institutional-racism-and-staff-cuts-but-those-on-over-50000-up-by-12/

As they would not want a purpose-built library, the Trust would want to "reshape the building."  After detailed inspections architects and building surveyors have advised Lambeth that the building will need substantial long-term maintenance work in 10 to 20 years time.  The democratic Association are content to raise the necessary funds and do this work in due course.  There is a possibility of 100% Lottery funding, as was provided to the councils which applied in the last round of Lottery funding for libraries.  The Trust propose to do the work quickly combining it with the reshaping at a total cost of about £5 million.  They hope to get 50% from the Lottery and Cllr James Chatterton Dickson informs us that Lambeth will pay the other 50%.

Overall the officers preferred the Trust to the Association for the Council's preferred bidder, ostensibly because the Trust's plans are supposedly "more ambitious."  So far as appears from the documents this ambition comprises the reshaping of the building, of which no details have been disclosed, and the replacement of the library by a cafe or cafe bar.

The following table summarises the plans of the democratic Association and the Trust.

Reports

Asset transfer published assessment
Asset transfer officer panel: CLA
Asset transfer report, CLA
Asset transfer officer panel: CCT
Asset transfer report, CCT