LABOUR'S THIRD WAY FOR CENTRAL LIBRARY

03-07-2008

As Culture Secretary Margaret Hodge ponders the future of Birmingham's Central Library - to list or not to list - Stirrer reader John Lish offers a Third Way. Should appeal to New Labour sensibilities you would have thought. Here's his letter to the Minister.

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you in reference to the request from English Heritage to list the Birmingham Central Library as a protected building against development and the counter-request from Birmingham City Council for a Certificate of Immunity from Listing.

What I wish to propose is a third option to the two given above which you could consider.

That option is to postpone a decision for 12 months and instead request a wider debate between all interested parties occur so that any future decision from your department is taken with as broad a knowledge of the considerations as possible.

Why is there a need for this third option? In my opinion, the debate suffers from a lack of context of the wider needs of Birmingham's civic centre. Nor has there been any actual consultation with the citizens of Birmingham.

Both sides of this argument are assuming that what they are proposing is for the good of the city and people of Birmingham. I on the other hand have a strange notion that such changes should be democratically mandated.

Decisions have been made in secrecy by the current Conservative/Liberal Democrats cabinet. They have refused to discuss their plans openly or look at alternatives. It cannot be said that they have sought any form of meaningful consultation.

Nor is the response of English Heritage anything more than a knee-jerk reaction to the threat of demolition of John Madin's designs. This doesn't consider the needs of the civic centre and its wider spatial relationships. Nor does it consider that the iconic part of Madin's Library, the inverted ziggerat is more valuable as architectural heritage than the entire building. That's another possibility to consider.

Listing the inverted ziggerat and allowing the remaining site to be developed.

That's not something I would immediately recommend though because what is needed is a public debate about options and implications of those options such as partially retaining the library complex, wholly retaining the library complex or removing the entire library complex.

I'm deeply aware of what was lost with the cultural vandalism of a previous Conservative administration in Birmingham who deliberately neglected the beautiful Victorian Library and oversaw its demolition. The Victorian library was seen as obstructing progress and the city lost an inspiring building dedicated to literature.

The city council then did not seek to look at alternative developments which could have incorporated the old and the new. I urge you not to allow the same mistakes of procedure repeat themselves today.

Nor for the same reasoning do I wish you to impose a static solution as proposed by English Heritage. This needs to be a negotiated space between all interested parties. Lets look at the alternatives and see whether a better path is possible for this proposed development.

I would point out that in the current economic situation, there is no urgency to make such a decision as Birmingham City Council cannot afford to build a new library despite their claims. Given the slowdown occurring, it seems perverse to seek out developers at a low point in the market.

Therefore, I do request that you consider sending these requests back to the city and asking for a wider debate to occur. By doing so, you will have done the city a great favour. There are alternative ideas of development to consider and giving these the public space would benefit the civic life of Birmingham. There is even the possibility of a compromise leading to consensus between the parties.

I repeat myself to state that there is no urgency for you to make a decision for listing or granting a Certificate of Immunity from listing.So do neither. Send back the requests and ask for a proper debate to occur within Birmingham before any resubmissions are made.

Please don't make a rash decision based on partial information at the expense of the citizens of Birmingham.

Yours sincerely

John Lish

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