PROPOSALS for the city council to continue to run 15 of Leicester’s libraries, and three busy neighbourhood centres – Belgrave, Rushey Mead and Thurnby Lodge – are set to be formally approved.
Cllr Vi Dempster, asst city mayor for libraries and community centres is to sign a decision notice agreeing to the recommendations, which were made following one of the most extensive consultation exercises ever run by the council.
The council will also be making a £2.5m investment in the neighbourhood buildings.
Cllr Dempster will agree to the injection of a further £1m for alterations and improvements to library and community centre buildings, which will be in addition to the £1m already earmarked in the council’s capital programme.
An investment of £473,000 is also included in the council’s capital programme for work that will enable people to access a further six council libraries outside their staffed opening hours.
More than 6,000 people took part in an online consultation which sought views on the council’s initial proposals to change the way it operates its libraries and community centres service. Around 1,000 more attended the 12 community meetings and 15 drop-in meetings the council held across the city.
As a result of the consultation, the council’s original proposals put forward in April 2025 were significantly changed.
Cllr Vi Dempster, assistant city mayor for libraries and community centres, said: “The purpose of our initial engagement was to find ways to protect these very valued services in the face of ongoing budget cuts, and to ensure they continued to be available across the whole city.
“The proposals that will be formally approved next week will achieve that, and I’d like to thank everyone who made the effort to share their views with us as part of the huge consultation programme we carried out.
“in the next few months we will begin working with the local groups who have shown an interest in running the six centres put forward to be community-run, to help them develop business plans as part of the Community Asset Transfer process required.
“We know from our experience with the New Parks Neighbourhood Centre – now known as Team Hub – the Grove in Braunstone and the African Caribbean Centre that this is a model that is very successful in delivering a much greater range of services for local people.
“We are also determined to continue to involve communities to help us to ensure that all of these services are well-used and more income is generated as a result.”
Recommendations set to be approved include:
- Library and community services will operate from 18 facilities across the city.
- 12 multi-service centres will operate in areas including Beaumont Leys and Highfields. St Matthew’s Library will relocate to St Matthew’s Children’s, Young People and Families Centre, so that it is still on the estate and close to Taylor Road School. These sites will be open between 30 and 40 hours a week.
- Three stand-alone libraries - that had previously been proposed to become community-run - will continue to be run by the council in Evington, Knighton and Rushey Mead.
- The Central Library will open for 45 hours a week, offering extensive reading and IT resources and an exciting programme of reading events.
- Every library will be staffed and open on Saturdays and until 6pm on at least one evening a week.
- Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre and Rushey Mead Recreation Centre will continue to be run by the council. The council will work with the local community to improve the centres’ financial sustainability.
- Customer self-access will be implemented at a further six libraries (New Parks, the BRITE Centre library, Belgrave, Hamilton, Pork Pie and St Barnabas), in addition to some staffed hours.
- Braunstone Frith Recreation Centre, Coleman Neighbourhood Centre, Eyres Monsell Community Centre, Gilmorton Community Rooms and the Tudor Centre will be offered to the community to run. Additionally, in Netherhall, the Armadale Centre will become a community-run facility, as feedback showed this building to be preferred over the Netherhall Neighbourhood Centre, which will be demolished.
- Fosse Neighbourhood Centre and Library will close due to the low usage of the facility and poor condition of the building. However, the city council will work in partnership with Alice Hawkins Community Projects, which operates from the annexe of the building, to support them to relocate nearby. One other group also uses the building and will be helped to relocate. Library users will be helped to access one of the nearby library facilities.
The changes will result in savings of £500,000 in 2026/27 and £1.57m in subsequent financial years. This will contribute the savings the council needs to make to balance its budget.
There will be a reduction in staff numbers, and discussions have taken place with staff about this. Council policy is to seek to redeploy staff to avoid redundancies wherever possible.
A notice giving the intention to make the decision was published this week. It will be ratified on Wednesday 11 March.