Sale of former Mill Road library falls through for second time
Cambridgeshire County Council has confirmed that the preferred bidder it agreed to sell the building to has now withdrawn their offer
The sale of the former Mill Road library in Cambridge has fallen through for a second time.
Cambridgeshire County Council has confirmed that the preferred bidder it agreed to sell the building to has now withdrawn their offer.
The authority said it is looking at its options and will provide more information soon.
It is the second time that a buyer has pulled out during the sale of this building.
The first potential buyer, children’s charity Centre 33, for the building was chosen in 2023. The charity later pulled out of the process due to the amount of work they said the building needed to make it fit for purpose.
Last October the county council agreed to sell the building to a new buyer, which the authority said had offered “significantly more” than the £700,000 guide price.
The county council said the new buyer planned to use the former library for “community purposes”, with examples given including letting studio space for the creative arts, dance, music, art, and writing.
However, 10 months later this buyer has now withdrawn their offer and pulled out from the sale.
A spokesperson for the county council said: “We worked tirelessly with the bidder since October to ensure the sale of Mill Road library is completed.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been informed the bidder has decided to withdraw their offer.
“We are now looking at our options and the next steps.
“We hope to provide more information soon.”
The sale of the building has raised concerns from some in the area who had called for the former library to be kept for the community.
Councillor Richard Howitt (Labour) who criticised the sale at the meeting last October, branding it “morally and ethically wrong” at the time, has now called for the former library to become a community building.
He said: “I have said all along that it is wrong-headed to sell off a building with such historic and community value and the County Council must now learn the lessons from its failure to be able to do so.
“Generations in the Mill Road area used the building as a library and as a public space and more than 3,000 local people signed the petition against the sale. They were the ones who proved to be right.
“The county council has to start to listen local people and work with myself and the local community to find a better way forward. This should be about community-building, not a sale process which keeps local people at arms-length.
“In my view, there should be a ‘partnership’ approach going forward, in which a public interest in the building is maintained, local people fully involved and the costs and risks of maintaining what is a precious, listed building equitably shared.”