Reflections on our new Library

This is our new Library and Local History Centre in Maidstone. I'm continuing the Maidstone theme again today. I did take a conventional shot of the new building, adjacent to a large, multi-laned highway backed by affordable housing, but the perpetually grey sky made me think again.

Planning for the new Library started before the recession, which is why we got it. The other place was fine, but cramped, with the children's library separate from the adult section. But the old Library had the benefit of being nearer the town centre and adjacent to a large car park so people could get to it easily.

The new building is light, airy and fairly spacious, with all facilities under one roof, with all the modern technology a library should have. But it is so isolated and inaccessible.

Library Services have had to publish a leaflet of how to get to the new building and it's not easy. It's a way out of town so not too easy to walk to and across several busy roads. To cycle there (in fact to cycle anywhere in Maidstone) is not straightforward and you have to contend with main roads or devious semi-legal routes . There are few parking spaces (you need to be friends with a person with a disability badge) but there is a bus service - which is OK if you happen to live on the route of one of the buses that passes the door.

My point is - it's a lovely facility and a welcome addition to the town but WHO was responsible for its location? And WHO allowed the building to go ahead without insisting that it was easily accessible to all?