Moving Nairn library

Some thoughts about the recent furore

If you’re a denizen of the NAIRN - OUR TOWNS - OUR VIEWS facebook group, or you read Des’ posts over on Gurn Nurn you’ll be aware that a consultation has been launched on whether to move Nairn library from its current location in the High Street to be part of the “community campus” which is planned to be an element of the new Nairn Academy at the end of Duncan Drive and that’s got me thinking about libraries, and our library in particular.

There is a trend across the UK to reduce the public library service. Where we used to live we saw this happening: local libraries were closed and replaced with a mobile library which would visit each community for an hour or two twice a week which is a very poor substitute. So when we moved to Nairn I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we still had a library and I’ve been a member since just after we arrived although I confess I don’t use the premises that often, I mainly use the online facilities it offers.

Having said that, on the rare occasions that I do pop into Nairn Library it’s pleasing to see that there are people in there borrowing physical books and also the public access PCs are generally being well used.

So we’re lucky, we have a library, and it’s being used.

Which brings me back to the proposal to move it and one thing that is pretty universal is that people don’t like this idea. Some important points have been raised by commenters on Facebook.

The biggest one, quite rightly, is accessibility. The one place in Nairn which is pretty easy to get to for people who can’t drive is, unsurprisingly, the town centre. That’s both because it is, more or less, the geographic centre, so it’s the least distance to walk, but it’s also where all the buses stop and especially the service 20, the town bus, which, stops almost opposite the library.

So if you don’t drive, or you can’t walk far, then it’s an ideal location for you as it’s easy to get to. Moving the library out to the end of Duncan Drive means that’s no longer true. Yes, we could persuade Stagecoach to re-route the service 20. It already visits Beech Avenue in Achareidh six times a day so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to re-route it down Duncan Drive. However even if that was done it’s only six visits a day and it’s at Stagecoach’s whim if they continue to offer that service.

BID director Bob Ferenth and BID manager Lucy Harding

The second, and equally important issue for Nairn as a whole is that it reduces footfall in the town centre. Sheena Baker, former chair of Nairn West and Suburban CC, has commented on this as has Nairn BID both making the same point. When you’re not so mobile and you take the bus to town to visit the library you can combine your visit with some shopping, or a visit to one of our many cafe for coffee and a bun. So moving the library out of town will reduce spending in the town.

Anyway, cutting to the chase, if I’m elected to Highland Council in May I will oppose moving the library to Duncan Drive. It doesn’t have to stay in the shop unit it’s now in and there is certainly merit in considering other places in the town centre, as people have already raised, but wherever it ends up it needs to be only a very short walk from the other facilities in town.