Perth Voice Interactive

MORLEY LIBRARY will temporarily move to the Les Hansman Community Centre from January—for up to eight years.

The lease for the current library building, located at The Galleria, expires December 27 and will not be renewed.

Bayswater mayor Sylvan Albert says he’d have preferred the library stay put.

“We weren’t paying commercial rates and it was obviously more desirable for the centre to get in a new tenant who would pay a higher rent,” he says.

“Unfortunately we were ham-strung and had no choice but to relocate the library to a temporary location.

“In original discussions with the centre they were amenable to extending the lease for a bit longer, but then they reneged on that.”

Cr Albert adds it’s likely the library will stay in the Les Hansman for at least three years, and maybe as long as eight.

“Before we decide on the new location for the library we need to carefully reassess the role of the modern library in the community,” Cr Albert says.

“The role of the traditional library had changed and is now becoming even more of a social and community hub.”

Tony Green, president of the Bayswater City Residents’ Association, did a walk through of the Les Hansman with Cr Albert this week.

“Apart from the sports clubs, the rest of the ‘sit-down’ clubs should still be able to hold meetings in an upstairs room,” he says. “So this is good news for the likes of the Ciampino club and our ratepayers association which use the centre regularly. Ironically the centre was originally going to be a library but it wasn’t big enough, so it’s come full circle.”

The centre, built in 1977, has a main hall, meeting room and kitchen, and is used by several community groups including the Perth Radio Electric Car Club.

The Galleria is also home to the council-owned Max Tulley Centre and a childcare centre.

Earlier this year, it was mooted the facilities could be relocated to a new multi-million dollar Les Hansman.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK