The survey on moving Southchurch Library closed on 8 October after an extension. No decision has been made, and campaigners dispute the £250,000 repair bill.
Updated 9 October: the consultation was extended and has now closed. What happens next, and what the campaign disputes, is below.
Update: the consultation has closed
Southend-on-Sea City Council’s consultation on the future of Southchurch Library has closed. The council’s page now reads: “Consultation has concluded, thank you for your feedback” (Your Say Southend).
The deadline moved. When we first reported, the page gave Sunday 4 October. It now says the survey was open until 5pm on 8 October. (The page calls that day a Monday; 8 October 2026 was a Thursday.)
The page also repeats the council’s position: “no decision has been made about the future location of the library.”
What comes next. In June, Cabinet agreed to carry out a full options appraisal and an equalities impact assessment before choosing a site (Southend-on-Sea City Council). The consultation feeds into that work. The agenda for the next Cabinet meeting, on Monday 12 October, has no Southchurch Library item (Southend Council democracy website). The council has not published a date for the decision.
What the campaign disputes. The 2025 e-petition that forced the Cabinet debate was launched by the Southend Confelicity party, a local residents’ party. Its leader, James Miller, sets out the campaign’s case on the party’s own site (Southend Confelicity):
- the library gets “almost 30,000 visits per year”
- the 2023 condition report put about £250,000 against all recommended repairs, including carpets, lighting, fire doors and the kitchen, not just the outside of the building
- the report does not say the building has reached the end of its useful life
- moving “the service provision” elsewhere is how other Southend libraries, such as Thorpedene, were lost
The council’s own account is different. It describes the £250,000 as the cost of “essential external works”, rising to £325,000 or more with other repairs, and says the building “has now reached the end of its useful life”. The party has published the condition report it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (Southend Confelicity). We have not been able to check the 30,000 visits figure against council data.
Background: the building and the options
The library at 221 Lifstan Way is a single-storey prefabricated building that opened in 1972. It was designed to last about 25 years. A condition survey in 2023 found significant structural deterioration. The council has put the repair bill at around £250,000 for essential external works, rising to £325,000 or more once other repairs are added (Southend-on-Sea City Council).
Cabinet decided in June that spending that money would not represent value for money, and agreed the building is uneconomical to repair.
The three options
The council is not asking whether Southchurch should keep a library. It says it will keep one. It is asking where.
- Option 1: rebuild on the current site. Library services stay at Lifstan Way, but the building is replaced or the site significantly redeveloped. The council flags the cost, the disruption during construction, and the fact that it would keep running a standalone library building.
- Option 2: move to Southend Adult Community College, Ambleside Drive. The library would take a newly created space on the ground floor of the college. The council’s case is shared premises, lower long-term running costs and library and adult learning services under one roof. Its own list of things to consider starts with the fact that existing users would have to travel to a different place.
- Option 3: somewhere else in the area. The council is asking residents to name alternative sites, and says any suggestion would be tested against accessibility, public transport, walking and cycling access, car parking, building suitability, disabled access, community use, cost, sustainability and the effect on library users.
How far the move would actually be
The two named sites are closer together than the wording suggests. Southchurch Library is at 221 Lifstan Way; Southend Adult Community College is on Ambleside Drive, SS1 2UP. The straight-line distance between the two postcodes is about 0.4 miles, using Ordnance Survey postcode centroids published through postcodes.io.
What does change is the ward. Lifstan Way sits in Southchurch ward. Ambleside Drive sits in Kursaal ward. So an option presented as keeping library services “in the Southchurch area” would, on the council’s own preferred alternative, put the building outside Southchurch ward.
One small thing worth knowing if you go looking for the library online: the council’s own directory record lists the postcode as SS2 2XY, which is not a postcode in use. The building is in SS1 2XY.
How this started
The consultation follows an e-petition with 395 signatures, presented to Full Council on 29 March 2026. Cabinet responded on 15 June and agreed to run a full options appraisal and an equalities impact assessment before deciding.
Cllr Kevin Robinson, cabinet member for planning, property and governance, said at the time: “There is no proposal to close Southchurch Library services, and no option being considered would result in the loss of library provision for this community, and we remain committed to maintaining our six libraries across Southend.”
Those six are Kent Elms, Leigh, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Southend Forum and Westcliff (Southend-on-Sea City Council).
What it means for you
- The survey has closed. It ran until 5pm on 8 October. If you missed it, the contact given on the Southchurch Library Proposals page is consultations@southend.gov.uk, and the named officer is Sharon Wheeler, head of libraries and physical wellbeing.
- The library is still open while this runs. Southchurch Library opens Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 9am to 5pm. The council warns it may close between 12pm and 2pm on some days, so ring 01702 212185 first if you are going at lunchtime.
- Parking is part of the argument. The current site has car parking next to the library. If you use it, say so; the council lists car parking among the criteria it will judge any alternative site against. Our guide to parking in Southend covers the wider charges.
- No decision has been made. The council says the options appraisal and the equalities impact assessment come after this consultation, not before it. The decision will be a Cabinet item, and its papers are published on the council’s democracy website about a week before the meeting.
Sources
- Southend Council democracy website: Cabinet, 12 October 2026, agenda
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Southend Confelicity: Southchurch Library post, updated 13 September 2026, for the campaign’s case
-
Your Say Southend: Southchurch Library Proposals, checked 9 October 2026
- Southend-on-Sea City Council: council confirms commitment to library services as Cabinet agrees next steps for Southchurch Library, published 18 June 2026
- Southend-on-Sea City Council: Southchurch Library directory record, for the address, opening hours and facilities
- Southend-on-Sea City Council: Libraries, for the list of six branches
- postcodes.io, for the postcode centroids and ward boundaries used in the distance figure
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