After many months of deliberation, Barnet Council has withdrawn its funding for Barnet Racial Equality Council (BREC).

On Monday, council cabinet members stopped the North Finchley-based organisation's £58,000 annual grant and agreed to set up its own team of community development workers.

Hendon Library is to close for up to six months for a major £1million refurbishment to enhance its role as a "street corner university".

The library in The Burroughs will shut from summer next year until spring 2003 if the ambitious scheme gets the green light. Council officers are currently seeking a high-profile commercial company to run a coffee bar inside the library.

Staff will be re-deployed to fill gaps in other libraries, their wages going towards paying building costs. Other monies, it is hoped, will come from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Section 106 cash and charities.

The library's impressive exterior facade will remain and, it is hoped, renovations will highlight the building's heritage features such as barrelled ceilings and ornate balustrading. The new library which currently loans some 47,000 items a year will include the so-called "people's network", with 67 internet-enabled computers, as well as full disabled facilities and a new lift.

After announcing plans at Monday's cabinet meeting of Barnet Council, Councillor Susette Palmer said modern libraries were not just for books.

"All libraries are street corner universities," she said. "This will be a major facility for people who use the library and I also hope to tempt people who don't use the library to come and have a look."

Staff had been working on the scheme for the past six months, she added.

The library is popular with students from Middlesex University's nearby Hendon campus. A university spokeswoman said: "We have plenty of warning to source the materials our students use from elsewhere."

November 28, 2001 16:04

MATTHEW NIXSON