Yiewsley Library, now back in the council's hands, is a “great opportunity”, says Councillor.

Conservative-led Hillingdon Council have bought back the leasehold of the library, reversing the actions of the Labour group 40 years ago.

The Council exchanged contracts on the building, which includes the library and a tenant on the floor above, on Thursday 22 October and hope to complete the sale next month.

Cllr Ian Edwards, ward councillor for Yiewsley and Chairman of the Central & South Planning Committee thinks the purchase is “financially, a wise thing to do.”

He said: “It's a good piece of real estate.

“The rental and the cost of the investment made it financially very viable, as well as opening up a tremendous potential going forwards.

“Depending on what happens with the gym, which we hope we can continue for a long time, there are other opportunities for that site in time.

Trenic Gym is the current tenant above the library facility, which will now pay rent to the council, instead of Legal and General, who bought a 120 year lease in 1973.

Hillingdon Council are currently paying £30,054.02 a year to Legal and General for the library.

Legal and General put their leasehold interest for sale in the Acuitus Auction on 22 October with Hillingdon Council as the successful bidders, agreeing to buy the leasehold interest for the sum of £675,000.

The library was refurbished previous to the sale

Cllr Edwards assures that there are no plans to remove the library from the current location on the corner of Yiewsley High Street and Falling Lane, but the area has positive future.

He said: “We're looking for youth services down there for the council, now we have a new piece of real estate for us in our portfolio so we can adjust services to free up the right space for new services.

“We do need to look at fitness provision, as I know some residents have longed for the return of the old swimming pool but that's just not realistic.

“It's far too expensive to build and maintain for the use it would get when we have the wonderful facilities at Uxbridge which is a bus ride away.”

“These are all the sorts of things that my colleagues and I are pressing the Leader of the Council on and he's very receptive to these. He's keen that where we can, we can move forward on them.”

The move makes the council the only one in the country to have successfully refurbished and rebuilt all of its 17 libraries at a time when many county and borough councils are closing local services.

Cllr Edwards added: “Whereas other Council's are cutting back on expenditure, we are very mindful on what we spend and how but because of our sound financial management we have got the ability to invest in our communities when the opportunity arises.

Cllr Dominic Gilham, ward councillor for West Drayton described the purchase as “fantastic”.

He said: “It just shows that even in tough times Hillingdon Council puts its residents first.”

Yiewsley library boasts a great range of facilities including fully accessible PCs, Macs and free Wi-Fi for visitors aged 15 and over.