Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – New managers of a public library in Croydon have turned to crowdfunding to keep the service running, calling on community support to sustain operations.
Only now, after a year of delay, are “plans” for the future of four public libraries beginning to take shape; at least two sites have not yet had leases agreed upon.
A full year has passed since Jason Perry, the unsuccessful mayor of Croydon, announced his plan to close four of the public libraries in the borough.
The Tory Mayor’s £84,000-per-year “plan” was so ill-conceived that only now are specifics of “alternative” use schemes—which he finally managed to piece together—starting to surface.
An organization that acknowledges it does not even yet have a fully functional website is set to host an open day for Sanderstead locals to learn more about the “alternative” purpose the council has in mind.
At another closed library location, in Broad Green, where the Asian Resource Centre of Croydon is to take over the public facility, council contractors threw hundreds of books into the street, making negative national headlines. Mayor Perry’s other handover plans have so far been chaotic.
A community interest organization with roots in New Addington, Play Place Innov8 (geddit?!!), has been granted permission to use the library facility in Shirley.
To raise the additional £10,000 they believe they will need to move into and use the property, Play Place is launching a GoFundMe campaign. Less than a tenth of what they claim they need has been raised after a week.
There are currently no indications that Bradmore Green Library in Old Coulsdon is reviving, but we are certain that, before the May election, there will be a Facebook video or tweet featuring the breathless mayor praising himself for his excellent job of tearing apart yet another aspect of the local community.
Because so little preparation had been done beforehand, opposition council members widely and rationally assumed that Mayor Perry intended to flog off the closed libraries, most likely to housing developers. Development of the sites is still a possibility if none of the new plans at Sanderstead, Shirley, Broad Green, or Old Coulsdon prove successful.
All four of the libraries that the mayor closed last year had one thing in common: in spite of Perry’s pathetic claims at the time and the approximately twelve months of phony “public consultations” that preceded the closures, the council’s property experts had done nothing to ensure that workable alternatives were in place starting on November 2024.
Continuous usage of the buildings was never considered. According to some well-known, neighborhood-based organizations, they were ignored when they showed interest. Before government commissioners arrived, the £1,000-per-day “interim” in charge of overseeing the council’s property portfolio management recently left Fisher’s Folly.
The financially challenged council has paid off staffing and the majority of maintenance expenses at each previous library location, transferring public property on small, mid-term leases. However, the financial figures will hardly begin to cover Perry’s council’s “runaway” spending and £1.4 billion in debt.
In an attempt to access some “free” public funds, Sanderstead’s open day on September 13 has been rebranded as a part of the Mayor of London’s Open House and community weekend.
“We’re opening the doors to everyone to join us in a shared reimagining of how we develop the space as a community base,”
says The Story Sanctuary, which describes itself as a “creative health and wellbeing hub”.
The company behind the Story Sanctuary, called The A Collective, probably through no fault of their own, hasn’t even yet been given a licence for the building from the council.
“We’re in the process of working with Croydon Council to agree a temporary licence to use the building, in advance of negotiating a full lease.”
So this is hardly the epitome of a thought-through, well-considered handover.
The organizations vying for control at Sanderstead and Shirley both identify as “non-profits” and CICs (ARCC, at Broad Green, is registered as both a limited corporation and a charity). This is possibly a crucial point to make.
Charities are not Community Interest Companies.
The CIC’s creator or founders can make sure they get paid for their labor on behalf of the company. Only the company’s potential profit, after all expenses, including employee salaries, needs to be put back into the company. It is completely feasible for individuals in charge of a CIC to ensure that they receive compensation so high that there is no profit at all at the conclusion of the accounting period.
Play Place Innov8 has been granted a licence from the council to occupy the library building, and they say that they “expect the 25-year lease to be finalised within the next two months”.
In a statement issued last week, they say:
“Work has already begun, and over the coming months you’ll notice activity around light refurbishment and decorating.”
Play Place’s Innov8’s version of events appears a little confused over timings.
“Shirley Library was set to close,”
they say. Shirley Library, together with the three other public libraries, closed in early November 2024.
“In May 2025, Play Place Innov8 CIC, a Croydon not-for-profit, stepped in to save it.”
With the words, “We’re not quite there yet,” Play Place Innov8 has officially opened its begging bowl. To make the library secure, hospitable, and completely prepared for everyone, we still need money for new carpets, furnishings, and necessary renovations. Hence the request for a $10 million crowdfund.
The Shirley Library cost Croydon Council over £100,000 to run in 2021, including £70,000 for professional, qualified librarians.
Though not all that different from what citizens of other local authorities have learned to value from their public libraries, Play Place Innov8 has set up an ambitious array of events for 2025.
“We want to keep its traditional services — book loans, study areas and computer access — and also introduce new activities like reading groups, after-school clubs, arts and crafts, poetry, knitting and more.
Together, we can make it a vibrant hub shaped by the people of Shirley.”
They don’t specify what would happen if they fall short of their financial goal. However, there’s no doubt that Croydon’s financially constrained council, led by failed Mayor Perry, won’t be contributing.
What are alternative funding options for Croydon libraries?
Local organisations can take over the management, with sustainable business plans together with volunteers, community fundraising and partnership. For example, Surrey Physio suggested a not-for-profit model to pool resources and sublet space from libraries to cover running costs associated with libraries.
Croydon Council is understandably very strapped for cash, but they have opened up applications to local groups to redesign closed library properties into community hubs. If groups can put together sustainable working plans, the council might support or provided grants with no guarantees, and the cost of rent and rates will likely remain issues.
The Opportunities for Everyone (LOFE) innovation fund, administered as part of the Arts Council, has provided grant funding for projects aiming at addressing unequal provision of services to disadvantaged communities, and funding for projects addressing digital literacy, arts engagement and community well-being has included libraries.