Library lawn, 30 March 2022

Next to York Explore, the city’s main library and archives, there’s a lawned area. It’s a place I’ve often sat for a while, on one of the benches, after visiting the library. It’s one of those ‘steeped in history’ places, very special. From the benches you look at the Multangular Tower on one side, the Roman wall in the middle, and the remains of what was St Leonard’s Hospital in the other corner. Or just enjoy the greenery and quiet.

Like all the land here in central York between the river and the Minster it has a long and complex history.

In the reports and articles I’ve been reading while compiling this page I’ve seen many references to this area being ‘underused’, ‘overlooked’, that people don’t know it’s there. The word ‘underused’ should probably ring alarm bells, as it often seems to mean that only the locals appreciate it and that it isn’t making any money, so some commercial activity is probably looming. As seems to be the case here.

There’s a nice description of this place included in documents on the planning portal:

The green colour of the grass is the dominant colour of the area, contrasting strongly with the orange brick of the library and the greys of the ruins. As a quieter secluded space from the surrounding business of the Museum gardens and shopping streets, it is used by local people in fine weather. It is enclosed and intimate and ‘off the beaten track’.

– Design and Access Statement, p18 (PDF)

Library lawn, 30 March 2022

When I first heard mention of plans for a mini-golf course here I thought it was an odd and inappropriate idea, and seemed so odd that I thought it was just one of those things that wouldn’t progress any further.

But it did, and now there’s a planning application. A rather controversial one.

Planning application

21/02758/FUL | Change of use of land to form a 12 hole mini golf course for a period of 7 years | Central Library Gardens Museum Street York

I’ve been reading the pre-application advice included on the planning portal, and was struck by the response from the council’s Development Management Officer, given back in March 2021, which wasn’t exactly encouraging:

In conclusion, officers advise that the principle of the development in this location would not be supported and we would not support the grant of planning permission. If however, notwithstanding this advice, you intend to submit a formal application, we would advise referencing the full advice from the conservation officer […]
Please note this advice does not negate his and our fundamental objection to the principle of the proposed scheme and notwithstanding, an improved design would similarly not be supported by officers.

– p23-24, Design and Access Statement (PDF)

Since then, and despite this rather negative response, work has clearly progressed on the application, which was submitted in December.

The application, submitted by York Mini Golf Ltd, states:

The presence of the mini golf course will mean that a currently much underappreciated area of York that is rich in heritage will be known and enjoyed by a wider audience, including people who wouldn’t normally visit a historic space.

It clearly isn’t underappreciated, as the large number of objections makes clear, as reported in an interesting piece by Gavin Aitchison in York Mix, on 2 Feb.

There’s plenty of information available about the significance of the site and the various buildings and structures around it, for anyone who wants to know more.

Having read some of the comments made by residents, I was interested to see what the statutory consultees had to say in response to the planning application. As with all planning applications involving sensitive historic sites and buildings, various relevant organisations are invited to have their say. And of course they have a defined remit for any objections, based on the organisation’s area of expertise.

Historic England and the Council for British Archaeology have no objections to the plans. There are no concerns about damage to archaeology, or to neighbouring historic structures. Historic England’s response states:

The mini golf proposal offers an interesting ‘meanwhile’ use for a limited period. It has the potential to serve as an introduction to the history of York, but in a different and entertaining manner that could appeal to a wide range of people and age groups. The York heritage ‘offer’ is certainly broad enough to accommodate different approaches.
(source – PDF)

Sense of place

Yes, it is an interesting idea, and yes, different approaches can be accommodated. But perhaps not on one of the most sensitive and profoundly interesting bits of the city centre. And this isn’t just for one summer, it’s for 7 years, perhaps longer.

I’ve been thinking a lot about why some places matter so much to so many people, and in particular thinking about that deep connection some of us feel to certain places just as they are. And why it is that other people, looking at the same place, see it differently.

This area is so historically significant and resonant that there’s probably nothing much that could ‘improve’ it as a long term intervention. Just my view. Shared by others though, I think.

I wonder how many of us who appreciate this place as it is would want to sit there in future with a mini-golf course in the middle of it. It will of course fundamentally alter the nature of the place, making it a different place entirely.

The ruins of St Leonard’s Hospital, at one side of the site, will also be utilised:

It is anticipated that part of the room in St Leonard’s undercroft will be used as a ticket office and place where players can collect and return their clubs

Library lawn, from St Leonard’s hospital, 30 March 2022

That doesn’t seem appropriate either.

Several comments on the planning application suggest other more appropriate locations. But clearly the proposed visitor attraction is intended to help raise funds for the library, which is why this location has been chosen.

Ownership, income and the ‘disposal of open space’

I’ve wondered before about the ownership and management of this area of land next to the library. It is owned by the council, but was recently leased to York Explore, as reported in York Mix in October 2020.

There was apparently a public consultation, in 2020, and advertising, as required by law, of ‘the Council’s intention to dispose of open space’.

The Section 123 Open Space notice was published in the York Press on 13th August and 20th August 2020. … Only one comment/objection was received in response to the Notice
(Library lawn lease report, 22 Oct 2020, PDF)

I wasn’t aware of this at the time, and perhaps not many people were, if only one comment was received in response.

A council Executive meeting on 22 Oct 2020 (agenda item 51) agreed:

“That approval be given to grant a lease of Library Lawn and the St Leonards Hospital Ruins (Store) to Explore York and Archives Mutual Limited (Explore) until 31 March 2034 … To allow Explore to use the space in connection with the operation of York Explore library and to sub-lease to third parties in order to generate income.”

The current planning application is presumably a result, with a third party putting forward proposals to generate income.

In July 2020 another possible ‘new flagship attraction’ was also suggested for the area, though so far only the mini-golf idea seems to be at planning application stage.

Thoughts, queries

Many thoughts and queries have come to mind over the time I’ve been writing this page.

I’ve wondered what’s wrong with a place just being quiet and serious, as this place is. We all recognise the appeal of what would be called ‘fun activities’, and York is full of them, but they’re surely better placed in areas where there’s nothing much of interest there already. I’ve wondered why imposing some intrusive intervention into a place like this is seen as somehow necessary and beneficial. Why not wait for appreciation of historic places to happen naturally, as it usually does? And with so much information available so easily now, via the devices so many of us carry with us, surely it’s possible to provide more information, linked to place, in small-scale ways, for anyone wanting to understand more?

Would this not be a good place for outdoor plays, over the summer months? Like the Mystery Plays that were held in the Museum Gardens, but on a smaller scale? That could bring in income and seems to fit with the setting. Maybe that has already been considered and dismissed.

I’ve wondered too about what’s going to happen to the Anglian Tower, just behind the library, a rather magical and atmospheric place which I’ve written about before, some years back.

Maybe you have to visit at the right time to find places magical and atmospheric. Maybe I’ve just been lucky to have seen the Anglian Tower and the buildings around library lawn in particular light, at particular times, when there’s been no one else around, when the history and complexity of it is so apparent.

The kind of moment you won’t probably get next to a mini-golf course full of people.

But then of course there’s no money to be made in people just wandering through or sitting and quietly appreciating. And we have to fund our libraries somehow, as libraries too are special and important places.

Your thoughts?

There have been comments in support of the planning application, alongside the objections. You can add your own comments or read the other comments and documents on this link to the planning application. And of course comments are welcome here on this page, below.

. . . . .

Welcome to everyone who has joined the mailing list recently, I hope notification of this page has reached you. Thanks too for your ko-fi coffees, which are always appreciated, either in recognition and support of the large archive of pages hosted here on York Stories, or to power more pages in the present time. There’s a lot to cover as I try to catch up. For various reasons this page has been in draft form for many weeks, and it’s good to get it published at last. Rougier Street next I think …

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Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library, one evening in January 2017: doors open

A cheering sight — a building that has been boarded up and unused for years pictured here with its front door open and the lights on. Not just any old building, but the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library. Looks welcoming, doesn’t it, on a dark winter night.

Last week, for one day only, it was open from 3pm-8pm for an exhibition of plans for the Cocoa Works development. Last week I wrote about that, and illustrated it with some of the images from the display boards. But I also took photos of the building itself, as it’s the first time I’ve been inside it, and it may be the only chance local residents get to see inside it, depending on whether it has any community-based use in the future.

There are no books here now, but the shelving remains. Here’s a view of the ground floor area to the left as you enter.

Interior view, Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library

Here it is in an older photograph, from the 1930s:

Library interior in the 1930s (Photo: the Rotarian, 1937)

The library opened in 1927. In August 2007 it was given a Grade II listing. The reasons for the designation:

• The library is an intact and unaltered example of an inter-war library
• It has strong historical associations with the nationally important figure of Joseph Rowntree
• It retains a large number of original fittings and fixtures of high quality
• The library is an unaltered example of Arts and Crafts inspired architecture

(Source: historicengland.org.uk)

The windows are metal-framed and leaded.

The larger window at the end had signs of damage, as if there had been some attempt to force it, from the outside. The windows are boarded up now.

On the stairs, a few framed posters.

The exhibition was downstairs only. Upstairs, without lights on, I had to rely on the camera’s flash. Just a small compact camera, so not a powerful flash, but it illuminated enough to give some idea.

Interior view, first floor, Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library

In the photo above we’re at the top of the short flight of stairs, looking in to the first floor room, facing the front of the building. The room has fitted magazine racks and cupboards.

With the flash turned off, that main window is rather handsome, with the light coming through from the street outside:

Only a small room. In the corner an inscription, hard to read at the time and difficult to get a clear image of:

Inscription, in a corner

It says:

‘A NUMBER OF
BOOKS IN THIS
ROOM ARE FROM
JOSEPH
ROWNTREE’S
PERSONAL LIBRARY
PRESENTED TO THE
COCOA WORKS BY
HIS CHILDREN

There’s also another inscription, which I didn’t see, but which is quoted in the listing entry.

Heading back down the stairs, peeling paint …

… and a sudden and rather impressive view of the main factory building behind, looming out of the gloom.

From library to factory

I’ve had to digitally enhance the image, it was more grey as I saw it, just enough light behind the factory for it to be visible as a bulky presence on the horizon. So much of a contrast to the building we were in, but of course linked to this little library, and so many other buildings here around the factory.

Down the stairs then, back to the ground floor.

And by the door, as we left, a cardboard tube drew my attention to an elegant curved umbrella stand.

I did include this next image on last week’s page — an inscription just above the entrance. I’d been in the building a while before I noticed it. An inscription above the door but facing into the room, meaning you see it as you leave, not as you enter. A gentle reminder of what this building is about.

THIS LIBRARY IS ERECTED AS A MEMORIAL TO JOSEPH ROWNTREE 1836-1925 IN GRATITUDE FOR A LIFE OF DEVOTED SERVICE

It was good to see the interior of this building, after knowing it only as a closed and boarded-up place.

I wonder if that room upstairs could be kept for community use in some way, as perhaps a bookable meeting room for small local groups, or if it could at least remain open to visitors interested in the Rowntree legacy and the history of these buildings here.

I hope too that the view from the window on its stairs will remain unobscured, as it’s so impressive. A massive functional factory building framed by a small leaded library window. So different, but so much linked. Reminders of the Rowntree legacy and rich Rowntree heritage here in this part of York.

More information/updates

See also my earlier page (2012) Rowntree’s: books and beauty
Recent plans for the Cocoa Works site were highlighted in Cocoa Works: plans for Rowntree factory buildings.

January 2021 update: what’s happening on the larger factory site, of which this library is a part: Cocoa Works: Rowntree factory development.

Historic England listing

The Rowntree Society website has historical information and interior photos

Many fascinating old photos including some of the library in the York Press photo gallery: 67 old photos: The Rowntree/Nestlé buildings

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Sign on the closed front doors of York library, 11 Dec 2013

I wanted to call in the library, briefly, this afternoon. The front doors were closed, which was a bit disappointing.

There was a sign pinned to the front door, explaining the reasons for the closure.

Just a conference, just one day. But have a look at the handwritten messages.

What does it tell us? How much people love their libraries? Perhaps that many of us really rely on them? That we expect they will always be open, that their doors will never be closed unexpectedly?

This one is certainly well-used. A steady stream of people came up to the door, all kinds of people. They all looked a bit disappointed.

No one else wrote on it. But then there wasn’t much space left.

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We all know, however, that these are difficult times, and that library services are under threat as a result of funding reductions. City of York Council is now looking into other ways York library services could be run.

I’m not a journalist, and this website isn’t really a ‘news’ site, but I’ve been so frustrated by the lack of information that the following is an attempt to gather together the various articles and opinions I’ve been reading. Please feel free to add relevant information or opinion via the comments.

What do we know? Not much …

Council leader James Alexander said in a recent Press report on this that ‘Residents showed us they want us to explore different delivery methods’. On Twitter I asked where we’d shown this. Answer: via the results of the Big City Survey (PDF). It does show that those residents who completed the survey were open to other possibilities. No reason not to be, if services are under threat. But the same data also appears to show that 66% of residents questioned have very little idea, or no idea at all, of what the ’social enterprise’ model is. So lots of information/education needed then, if we’re to be properly informed regarding this major decision.

The new libraries organisation might be something similar to York Museums Trust, Steve Galloway suggests in his blog. He points out that YMT has achieved great things, but comes across as not particularly transparent or open to the public.

Consultation

There was a survey, a couple of months ago, asking library users about the services they used, and their views on what was most important. It was also clearly trying to recruit more volunteers from the wider community. In fact, that seemed to be its main purpose. What it didn’t ask, strangely, was the main question: whether library users wanted the libraries taking out of local authority control. Or, to phrase it another way, whether we want the local authority to give away control of the libraries.

At a council meeting on 13 December Cllr Nigel Ayre asked when this consultation on the main question would take place. No date set yet, as far as I can tell. Not that it matters much anyway, perhaps. If the public view meant anything the question would have been asked in the recent survey, surely. To ask people to engage with all those minor questions but not ask them the main one seems odd.

Press promotes council plans

The first piece on this subject I noticed in our local Press had a headline suggesting we should be concerned:
Fears for York’s libraries (25 September 2012)

Since then the headlines have been, in the main, oh so positive. According to press stories over recent months, you’d be forgiven there’s nothing at all to be concerned about. It all sounds so cosy and safe.

Charity idea to run York’s libraries (1 October 2012)

Radical plan aims to safeguard York libraries (18 December) … Mmm, radical (exciting!) and also safe. What’s not to like.

The Council’s own press release (in that quiet ‘between Christmas and New Year’ time when most people aren’t paying much attention) was of course almost joyfully exuberantly positive Developing a community solution for York’s libraries (28 December 2012). Oh, that’s alright then. It’s got ‘community’ in it, and it’s a solution too. Marvellous.

The Press were impressed, and reported soon after: “Community benefit society” plan for York’s libraries moves step closer (1 January 2013). This headline suggests we’re all eagerly awaiting this thing. This thing put in inverted commas because actually we haven’t a clue what it is. No balance, no other voices, just the council line.

And most recently: City of York Council to explore library changes (9 January 2013), which briefly mentions the other perspective, and the union’s view.

Questions questions

In the midst of the Press’s generally unquestioning coverage was a brief piece suggesting that not everyone was joyfully embracing the proposed new model. York leaders face library plans quiz (11 October 2012) quoted Cllr Nigel Ayre’s concerns about the plans and the need for a proper debate.

Other councillors, letter writers, bloggers and commenters online have also voiced doubts and asked questions. Thank goodness for that.

In a letter to the Press, Library concerns (4 October 2012), Cllr Ayre again expressed concern that the libraries consultation didn’t include the main question, perhaps because the decision had already been made, and feared that ‘the public will be invited on a six-week merry-go-round of rubber-stamping – at taxpayers’ expense.’

Martin Bashforth expressed his concerns in letters to the Press:
Funding challenge for our libraries (10 October 2012) , Unco-operative over library consultation (29 October) and in his blog: Archives, Libraries and Austerity in York

York Green Party also have concerns (Nov 2012). Steve Galloway commented on the plans in his blog: John Lewis approach to York Libraries (30 December 2012).

And the central ‘community’ in all this?

Thank goodness we still have unions, also asking questions, and answering a question I’ve been wondering for some months, which is, how do library staff feel about this? The Press on 9 Jan included the Unison representative (briefly), saying that staff felt ‘fearful and powerless’.

Clearly not all staff will be feeling exactly the same, some are perhaps pleased about the proposed changes, but it isn’t looking like a simple solution or safeguard, as presented by the council and The Press. On the BBC website – Unison opposes plans to transfer York libraries to trust – staff are said to be ‘angry and upset’ at the plans.

So perhaps this much-vaunted ‘community solution’ has already alienated the very community which should have been the first to feel onside and included. I don’t like the idea of librarians being angry and upset.

See also

At the cabinet meeting of City of York Council on 8 Jan, cabinet were ‘asked to approve the development of a business plan for a potential community benefit society for the services, establish a shadow board for the purpose of taking forward this work and undertake further engagement with the public and staff.’ The report prepared for this is available to read online: The Co-operative Council: A Community Benefit Society for Libraries and Archives (PDF)

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Above the door it says ‘Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library’. It’s empty now, but retains its fixtures and fittings. In 2007 it was given a Grade II listing, recognising its importance as an intact and unaltered example of an inter-war library and of Arts and Crafts inspired architecture, and because of its strong historical associations with the nationally important figure of Joseph Rowntree.

It dates from 1927, and was designed by a relative, Fred Rowntree.

An article in the Rotarian, in 1937, included this photo of its interior. The article waxes lyrical on the scene in and around the factory:

It goes on to commend the fact that beauty isn’t abandoned at the factory door, and expresses admiration for the decor: ‘a little blue or green pigment’ has been added to the whitewash on the walls. There are plants, ‘brought from the company greenhouses’, and paintings on the walls.

All that has gone now, of course. The factory building behind the library is empty and no longer in use.

The library remains, unaltered, a reminder. I noticed the way its many-paned windows reflect the building opposite, once the dining block for the factory. In a kind of jumbled, distorted way. Which is perhaps particularly appropriate for this scene. Things aren’t what they seem, aren’t what they were when the library was built. The building opposite is now a Nuffield Hospital, and there are no workers heading for the dining block at lunchtime.

Plans for the site mention this building’s possible reuse as a café. A ‘reading café’ perhaps, like the one recently opened on the other side of town, in Rowntree Park. A park which, of course, is another gift from the Rowntrees to the citizens of York.

Biographies of Joseph Rowntree note that he also helped to found York’s first city library. York has many reasons to be grateful to the Rowntrees, but I think we all know that, don’t we. This cluster of buildings here on Haxby Road just one of many reminders.

Update: library interior

Some years after this page was written I was able to visit, and wrote about, the interior of the building.

Elsewhere on the web

There is of course a lot of information online on the Rowntrees in York, but the very best resource, which also contains links to many other websites of interest, is the Rowntree Society website.

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Libraries really shouldn’t be struggling to justify their existence to get the necessary funding. If they didn’t already exist we’d invent them. It seems to make perfect sense for a community to have a central repository where resources we don’t actually need to have our own copies of can be held for us to borrow and return. Not only in times of austerity, but any time.

I love the library for its thoughtful safeguarding of books I might want to read sometime if I haven’t already. And particularly for keeping really obscure books of purely local interest. Or books bought and kept because of a local connection most of us may not be aware of, but when we are aware of it, we might be glad we can just pop into York Explore and ask a librarian if they have a copy of The Wisdom of John Woolman. And they do. In the reserves, in the basement.

We don’t all use the libraries, but I get the impression we all value them, think they’re something a society should have, for the benefit of all. Obviously, if there was a clear choice between ‘provide care for vulnerable people’ and ‘be able to borrow a book’ then people are more important. But it isn’t a clear choice, is it. Money saved on libraries would probably be wasted on consultants’ fees, for some vision or other.

Of course, the modern library is about far more than just books. They offer so much now, and in doing so, cost more. And as we know, cutbacks are inevitable.

The idea of taking them out of local authority control, to be run by a charitable organisation, has been mentioned. Seems odd to even consider messing things up, creating upheaval, when it seems to be working so well now. But then what do I know. I don’t work there. Maybe the staff would prefer to be out of local authority control.

The library consultation seems to be, in large part, a way of attracting volunteers. I hope we’re not going to lose the qualified library staff. I just keep thinking about those poor old obscure but wonderful books in the basement. I want people looking after them who know their stuff. The library I use isn’t just valuable because of the books, but because of the people who know the books.

More information

Libraries consultation: more details on the City of York Council website.

See also

On this site: Remembering libraries, posted a few days ago – looking for memories of/thoughts on our local libraries, particularly the smaller branch libraries.

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