Alan Bleasdale, creator of the 1982 TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff, has backed a campaign to restore Breck Road library in Liverpool, which was recently spared from conversion into a bookmakers after a planning application was rejected by Liverpool Council.
Campaign to Reopen the Library
The library has been closed since a dispute with the city council over rent. Since 2015, Breck Road and a location in Dovecot had been managed on behalf of Liverpool Council by charity Alt Valley Community Trust. Campaigners have fought to have the library reopened ever since it was shuttered.
Boylesports (UK) had sought to take over the former library building on The Mall, which had sat dormant for months. The proposal would have included a small community unit within the original library site. Planning officials dismissed the offer, stating that a potential sub-unit was "not of a size that would allow a reasonable community use as it is not flexible, adaptable and capable of multi use."
Bleasdale's Personal Connection
Mr Bleasdale, 80, spoke about the importance of libraries in his own upbringing. He said: "I was born in Whiston Hospital nine months to the day that my Father came back from the 2nd World War. We lived in Page Moss, Huyton in a terraced house almost facing the terrifying Eagle and Child pub and next door to the more placid Farmers Arms."
He added: "I had very loving parents but I was an only child and needed to find company and adventure elsewhere. I found both in different ways, in Huyton Library and Jubilee Park, Huyton." The writer said it was through access to free libraries that he was able to enjoy the career he experienced.
Appeal to the Council
Speaking before the decision to reject Boylesports (UK)'s application, Mr Bleasdale continued: "Apart from being available to the people who need it most. A community such as those who live in Everton and Anfield. A hard working, hard done to community, who lost their only library over 12 months ago when Liverpool Council closed the doors upon them with little warning."
He noted that "Protest and petitions followed but the library stayed closed. And now it seems that a bookies may take the Library's place in a road where there are already three other bookies within 50 yards of each other, who are all ready and available for you to lose your money with. From Books to Bookies. Sounds like the punchline to a joke but it's not funny."
Mr Bleasdale concluded: "I have no angst or axe to grind with Liverpool Council, I know how hard it is to provide care and facilities and opportunities in these strangest of times, I would just ask, simply if in this case the books are balanced and facing the right way."
