Brighton & Hove City Council has announced that Mile Oak public library will close on July 21.
The closure is part of the council's city-wide savings plan to address the budget gap, agreed by councillors at the Brighton & Hove City Council budget meeting back in February.
The decision was based on the low number of customers using the Mile Oak library compared to the city’s other community libraries, and the high costs of running the service within the premises of the local school.
The Mile Oak library averaged 150 visits per month between April 2022 and March 2023. The average cost per customer visit at Mile Oak was £19.02, compared to an average of 78p across the other Brighton & Hove libraries.
A public consultation was held on the closure, asking about the needs of current and potential Mile Oak library customers and looking at potential alternatives to meet those needs.
Over 200 people responses and, while the majority of respondents were not in favour of closing the library, there were no viable options for making the savings required without closing the library.
Most of the current customers already use other libraries in the city and are able to travel to other local libraries.
Once closed, any remaining usable books and other items at Mile Oak library will be redistributed across the other libraries in the city.
As part of the budget savings agreed, opening times and staffed hours will also change in some community libraries from July 1.
Libraries in Hangleton, Moulsecoomb, Patcham, Rottingdean, Whitehawk and Woodingdean will become Libraries Extra sites, which means they'll remain open to library members, who can access services when staff aren’t on site.
These libraries will now open as additional Libraries Extra on the following additional days:
- Hangleton - Sunday
- Moulsecoomb - Friday
- Patcham - Monday and Thursday
- Rottingdean - Sunday
- Whitehawk - Wednesday
- Woodingdean - Saturday
Up to date opening hours can be found here: www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/library-opening-times.
Libraries Extra gives residents access to the library when it’s unstaffed using a Libraries Extra card and PIN.
Councillor Leslie Pumm, chair of the Equalities, Community Safety & Human Rights Committee, said:
“I’m very sorry to see the Mile Oak public library close.
“Our library service has done amazingly well to keep libraries open in Brighton & Hove through a time where we’ve seen local authorities across the country closing services.
“Sadly, the low usage and high costs at Mile Oak mean it’s no longer viable to keep open.
“We will continuing to look at our options for what else we can do to support library users in the area.”
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