An artist's impression of the new interior of St Mary's in the Market Square

Formal plans have been submitted to allow Lichfield Library to move to a new home at St Mary’s in the Market Square.

An artist's impression of the new interior of St Mary's in the Market Square
An artist’s impression of the new interior of St Mary’s in the Market Square

The decision to switch the facility from its current home at The Friary was made by Staffordshire County Council last year and saw thousands sign a petition fighting the proposals.

A planning application has now gone to Lichfield District Council in a bid to approve the internal works needed to accommodate the library at its new home.

The Grade II listed building at St Mary’s dates back to 1853, although its role as a church ended in the 1970s. The site has since become home to a museum and tourist information centre.

St Mary's in the Market Square. Pic: Bs0u10e01
St Mary’s in the Market Square. Pic: Bs0u10e01

A statement supporting the planning application said: “The alterations proposed are to facilitate a new fully-accessible library and to promote the library and continued use of a reconfigured museum and community facilities.

“The proposals aim to strip back much of the new interventions installed in the 1970s conversion, revealing more of the existing historic fabric.”

The plans will see the existing chapel, alter and organ retained and integrated into the new facility.

As well as internal changes, there will also be some outside alterations too.

The statement added: “The most significant of these are the lowering of two of the existing windows which face Market Square. A simple glass lobby is also proposed.”

Full details of the proposals can be seen on Lichfield District Council’s planning website, where people can also have their say on the planned development.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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Steve
7 years ago

Disappointed that my home seems to have more books than the local library will do.

Agitatorofpeople
7 years ago

Disappointed, you will be!

Went to LDC website, minimal information, which has been the case all the way through this sorry sordid tale, no floorplans to look at, no information on the works to form an opinion just some dates when applications were submitted/due.

The fact is, The Guild of St Mary’s is a Ltd business, it had a number of Tory councillors as its business chair, that business is having a large proportion of public money spent on it from the sale of the present library building. The church has been deconsecrated so it is no longer a place of worship, and Guild St Mary’s Ltd will be using the first floor as a revenue raiser “pay per view” events, the plans publicly shown for a couple of hours one wet cold evening showed a 100 seat capacity theatre space upstairs in the first floor, they are raising money from “public donations” to complete some of that but it will be our money that has renovated and put in a floor for them to profit from. And don’t forget people, we will also be paying rent to keep our little library once we have paid to fix it up!
We have the Garrick theatre, why do we need another theatre venue in Lichfield? why do we want a minimalist library, why do we want our money blown on a private business when they are going to close our A&E and stuff our social care services!

For those that cant be bothered, here is the extent of the planning info, just picture a map showing the outline of the church footprint and you have the rest.

Application received Tue 17 Jan 2017
Application Validated Date Thu 26 Jan 2017
Expiry Date Thu 02 Mar 2017
Actual Committee Date Not Available
Latest Neighbour Consultation Date Wed 01 Feb 2017
Neighbour Consultation Expiry Date Wed 22 Feb 2017
Standard Consultation Date Wed 01 Feb 2017
Standard Consultation Expiry Date Wed 22 Feb 2017
Last Advertised In Press Date Thu 09 Feb 2017
Latest Advertisement Expiry Date Thu 02 Mar 2017
Last Site Notice Posted Date Not Available
Latest Site Notice Expiry Date Not Available
Statutory Expiry Date Thu 16 Mar 2017
Agreed Expiry Date Not Available
Decision Made Date Not Available
Permission Expiry Date Not Available
Decision Printed Date Not Available
Environmental Impact Assessment Received Not Available
Determination Deadline Wed 22 Mar 2017
Temporary Permission Expiry Date Not Available

Disappointing.