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North Wales Live
01-08-2025
- Business
- North Wales Live
'Missing' business case for Llandudno library move must be released
Backbench councillors have slammed a North Wales council cabinet, claiming a business plan for the relocation of a library has yet to emerge. The row centres around the relocation of Llandudno library, from Mostyn Street to Venue Cymru as part of a multi-million-pound regeneration of the theatre funded by the UK Government. Despite the potential investment, hundreds of Llandudno residents opposed the move as part of a public consultation, whilst shopkeepers on the high street, backed by Mostyn Estates, feared a reduced footfall in the town centre. Earlier this month Conwy 's cabinet backed the plans, despite concerns a business plan, requested by an earlier scrutiny committee never materialised. At the special economy and place overview and scrutiny committee on July 2, Cllr Chris Hughes proposed councillors backed the plan for the library move, and this was seconded by Cllr Dave Jones before it was voted through. Making the proposal at the meeting, Cllr Chris Hughes said: 'I have to move the recommendation and I do so not lightly. I do so on the basis that Charlie (leader Cllr McCoubrey) has promised a satisfactory business case will be provided… would be expected.' Reading out Cllr Hughes' proposal, Conwy's legal officer Matthew Georgiou took the matter to the vote. Reading out the recommendation from the report, Mr Georgiou directly referred to Cllr Hughes' proposal but without specifying his comments regarding 'a business plan'. The proposal was then voted through before being again supported by cabinet days later. Llandudno Conservative councillor Harry Saville then emailed the leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey again requesting the 'missing' business plan. But Cllr Saville said he was 'surprised' by a response from the leader, who said he disagreed with Llandudno councillors' 'interpretation' of events. 'I am genuinely surprised by the response from the leader of Conwy County Borough Council,' said Cllr Saville. 'All I am asking for is that councillors have the opportunity to scrutinise the business case behind the council's plans to relocate Llandudno's library and Tourist Information Centre to Venue Cymru.' He added: 'It is clear that councillors believed this information would be provided when they voted to back the council's plan. I don't think that is too much to ask for.' Llandudno Reform councillor Louise Emery agreed, referring to the fact that the £10m bid for UK Government funds was being considered by civil servants, which she presumed included a 'business case'. 'We just want to see the business case for the Venue Cymru Futures Bid that includes moving the library away from its high-street location,' she said. 'We've been told it's on a UK Government civil servant's desk, so let's see it. I don't mind paying for the postage to post it back if that's the problem.' Conwy leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey responded to the Llandudno councillors in a statement issued this week. 'The economy and place overview and scrutiny committee considered the matter on July 2 and made recommendations to cabinet,' he said. 'The committee's recommendations were that cabinet, having fully considered the responses to the public consultation, approve the draft plans for the Venue Cymru Futures project, which include relocating Llandudno Library and the Llandudno Tourist Information Centre to Venue Cymru. The proposal was clear and was read out immediately prior to the vote.' He added: 'The recommendation did not request cabinet to delay the decision so that the committee could consider further information. An alternative proposal was made that cabinet does not approve the draft plans for the Venue Cymru Futures Project and should defer their decision pending a full formal assessment of the Venue Cymru Futures bid and a detailed economic impact assessment of moving the library from Mostyn Street, and for that information to be brought back to the committee before cabinet approved the plans for the Venue Cymru Futures Project. 'It was made clear to the committee that the alternative proposal would be voted on if the proposal for cabinet to approve the plans was lost. However, the recommendation that cabinet should approve the plans was carried and cabinet subsequently adopted those recommendations in full without changes.'
North Wales Live
16-07-2025
- Business
- North Wales Live
Llandudno councillors to attempt call-in of library building closure decision
Two Llandudno councillors say they will call in a decision to close the Mostyn Street library and relocate the service to Venue Cymru. Conwy 's cabinet took the highly controversial decision last week, which will see the council target £10m of UK Government funds to regenerate the 'tired' Venue Cymru into an arts centre – complete with a library extension. The decision was made despite a public consultation finding 76% of 999 residents fearing moving the service would create access problems, with another 1,100 objectors signing a petition against the move. Backed by Mostyn Estates, businesses in the town also worried closing the library building on Mostyn Street would result in a drop in foot fall in the town centre. But cabinet made the decision after a scrutiny committee had backed the move, on the condition a solid business case was supplied. Now Llandudno backbench Conservative councillors Louise Emery and Harry Saville are attempting to call the decision in, arguing a proper business case is yet to be produced. S ign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox. Cllr Emery claims she contacted the council's head officers a week ago, requesting a business case, with the email copying in cabinet members heading the move. But Cllr Emery says she is yet to see the documents and worries the cash-strapped council will struggle to pay for the maintenance of the new building once complete. Cllr Emery also said scrutiny weren't given the opportunity to scrutinise a list of costs presented on screen at the cabinet meeting, which were not made available to individual councillors at the time – or afterwards. 'We are trying to call this decision in because financial information was provided by the deputy leader, Cllr Emily Owen, and scrutiny members were not aware that this information was going to be presented at cabinet, and they had no previous opportunity to scrutinise the figures, which may have affected the decision on the previous Wednesday at the scrutiny meeting,' said Cllr Emery. 'I'm still waiting for the business case, the one they said is on a civil servant's desk in Westminster (as part of the £10m funding application). I would like to see that in detail and be able to go through the figures and to reassure myself that this £10m project is the right thing to do for Conwy, regardless of the fact it has already been passed by scrutiny, who haven't seen the business case. 'So I'm going to do my own due diligence as a Llandudno member, and if I find that the figures don't stack up, then I'm going to ask questions. That's my role. 'If you look at most capital projects and you look at industry standards, you do (set aside) between 2% and 4% of the value of the project for future maintenance. So let's say some of that is renovating the old bit of Venue Cymru – most of it is on the new building – so you're looking at a sizeable amount of money for revenue and maintenance costs, and I'm worried that some of that will fall on the library service.' 'It doesn't feel that the cabinet have listened to not just the residents but their representatives, the Llandudno councillors; across party, they feel it is a bad decision, and we just don't feel listened to, and that is really disheartening.' She added: 'We are going to try and call the decision in, hopefully today as we only have a limited number of days.' A call-in is a process that can see a scrutiny committee revisit a previous decision, with councillors or groups of councillors having the right to request a committee call a matter in. This means a decision can be re-debated if it's found, for instance, that processes weren't properly followed. Conwy County Council was contacted for a comment. Public notices in your area
