Thank you for the question that you posed for me at the above Council Meeting in relation to Cippenham Library. It is a shame that there was insufficient time for me to provide you with the answer on the night.

I would like to remind you that it was the Labour Cabinet that so shamefully reduced the amount of monies that were to be made available for the refurbishment of Cippenham Library by £200,000. This resulted in a building that is a shell of what it should have been: an action that let down the people of Cippenham very badly.

As you may know, Cippenham Junior School is a foundation school, and will remain so even if the amalgamation of the three schools goes ahead. The wishes of the school in expanding their leisure amenities with the addition of a sports hall, fitness centre, cafeteria, etc., that would also be available for community use, is up to the Governing Body of the school, not the LEA. The school would foot the money for these amenities, not the Council.

The possibility of the current library site being 'handed over' to the school, with the proviso that a new library would be built on the school site, is one of the options that the school and the LEA would be looking at. To my mind, it would make sense for the people of Cippenham to receive a new library for which the Council would not have to pay a penny, as the cost would come from the developers. There is no other way that Cippenham will have a new library built in the foreseeable future.

The possibility of including Cippenham's library site in a project to re-provide the neighbouring schools will not be a priority in the Council's Asset Management Plan in the forthcoming year. This is a separate issue to the amalgamation of the three schools, and will very much depend upon future proposals made by the school as indicated above. Only then will the LEA be consulted on the issue of the current library site.