Construction on a new library in Rainham will begin next month, it is hoped.
The information was revealed at last week’s full council meeting at Havering Town Hall, after Cllr Jeffrey Tucker (Independent Residents’ Group, Rainham and Wennington) asked: “Can the council inform residents of the reasons for the delay in building the proposed new Rainham Library?”
Along with the library, the scheme will see flats and a “lifelong learning centre” built next to the station in Rainham Village Conservation Area.
Plans were originally approved in 2009, since when joint responsibility for the library has passed from the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation to the Greater London Authority (GLA).
The council’s lead on culture, towns and communities, Cllr Andrew Curtin, responded by saying draft legal agreements between the GLA and Havering Council were currently with the council’s solicitors and were expected to be signed off early this month, with construction to begin in March.
Affirming his support for the project, he added: “Libraries are the building blocks for everything which is good in life.”
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