Plans to move library into snooker hall put on hold

Plans to move a library into a sports centre’s snooker hall have been put on hold.

The proposed move was raised at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting last night (Thursday 21 July) by Independent councillor Anne Pissaridou.

She spoke out after hearing from snooker players that Mile Oak Library, in Chalky Road, was to be moved into their space at Portslade Sports Centre, a few hundred yards away.

Councillor Pissaridou said that players from the two snooker leagues and youngsters who received funding for coaching could not find an alternative venue in Portslade to house the three full-sized tables.

She said that Mile Oak had a purpose-built library shared with the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) – formerly Portslade Community College.

When PACA was extended and the original library building demolished, Councillor Pissaridou said that there was a full public consultation, and the new building opened in 2014 as a shared space.

She said: “What’s changed now? Why are you proposing to close this valuable and necessary community space and, in the process, close down a thriving snooker facility in the sports centre?

“A library is more than just books and I’m not in alone thinking this.”

Green councillor Martin Osborne, who co-chairs the Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture Committee, said that the number of people visiting the library was 5 per cent of what it was pre-pandemic.

Councillor Osborne said that falling visitor numbers affected the library’s viability and the council was working with the sports centre team, the contractor Freedom Leisure and library staff to provide a solution in the form of a more accessible building.

He said: “We understand that the snooker club and the players there are a valuable resource and community asset.

“We have just paused to reflect on some of those changes and there will be further meetings where we will try to come to a compromise all parties are happy with.”