Hope refurbished central library will reopen early

Middlesbrough Central Library is set to reopen its doors sooner than planned following a "really exciting" redevelopment.

The facility was closed in December 2023 for a refurbishment and was not due to reopen until the summer.

However, councillors have been told it could now reopen in six weeks' time, in May.

The refurbishment work includes a new events space, an IT suite, and improvements to make it more family and child friendly.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council's director of environment and community services, Geoff Field, told an Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting that the work was a "really exciting development".

He said the library "should be opened, hopefully, the beginning of May".

"We're just waiting for the lift work - the whole focus of that is to develop a children's centre of excellence around literature."

However, there were some concerns that its reopening would have an impact on small local libraries, which have hosted some of its stock during the closure.

Labour councillor Jill Ewan, of Newport ward, said: "Newport Hub has got a very nice little library in it now, I'd be very disappointed if that was to go."

Mayor Chris Cooke said: "Actually it might be a case that even when central library opens, based on what those figures look like, it might be the case that we start to roll out some of the other elements of the library to the sites that have benefited, in some way."

Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.