Council considers plans to relocate library to Maylord Shopping Centre

Hereford library could be relocated to Maylord Shopping Centre if bids for government funding are successful.

Herefordshire Council bought the leasehold of the centre property for £4.5m earlier this year.

Council officers said at the time the purchase would give them the opportunity to develop the site in line with their plans to grow the county’s economy.

And now councillors say part of those plans could include a new library and museum for Hereford which would allow more of the county’s artefacts to be put on display.

A freedom of information request submitted in 2018 showed that only a tiny fraction of the county’s publicly held works of art and historical artefacts are on display.

The council holds around 180,000 objects in its museum collection and more than 4,000 items are listed in its fine art collection.

Only 0.5% of the museum’s artefacts are on display while only 5% of the council held paintings are.

Speaking at today’s full council meeting, commissioning, procurement and assets cabinet member Gemma Davies said it would make a massive difference to the city.

She said applying for funding from the Government’s Town Fund was the only opportunity to achieve this.

Up to £25 million is available for regeneration projects in Hereford to create new jobs, help train local people and boost growth.

“I’ve been working on it for months,” she said.

“The bid itself is talking about the removal of the library from where it is currently based to Maylord Orchards so that we can have a 21st century Passivhaus building for the museum.

“In which we can have lots of amazing things related to Herefordshire which are currently in storage out on display and going around all of our community.

“That would include the market towns, it would include the city council and for example Peterchurch, their amazing art project they’ve got in their community hall.

“We would be able to display them everywhere and it’s a sense of pride.

“That bid has not come from the council. It came from the bringing together of community groups.

“The friends of the museum have been a part of that from the very beginning.

“I’ve been working with them tirelessly to see if it’s a possibility.”