'Little library' plan for phone box space near Ironbridge
A former phone box space near Ironbridge will be brought back to life as a "little library", after plans were approved.
A BT kiosk used to stand at the corner of Wellington Road and Darby Road in Coalbrookdale, but was removed five years ago.
The Coke Hearth Improvements Group, a residents’ project set up to improve the local environment and facilities, plans to build the painted wooden cabinet in an alcove in an outer wall at the Grade II-listed Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge Community Centre.
Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning department approved the plans, and installation is expected to take one day.
Group member Robert Petty said he had been accumulating books to help fill the shelves during the planning process, but more donations were welcome.
“From the start it’ll be a ‘take-a-book, leave-a-book’ arrangement, though I expect stock will need topping up from time to time,” he said.
A design statement submitted by the Coke Hearth Improvements Group said: “The proposed location for the ‘Little Library’ is within an existing recess in the boundary wall surrounding the Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge Community Centre car park.
“The Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge Community Centre is a Grade II-listed building dating back to 1831 when it was a girls’ and infants’ school.”
The building was a school until 1971, and began its current use as a community centre in 1996.
The group included a picture of a similar little library as an example, but pointed out that Coalbrookdale’s will be fixed to the wall behind it by brackets and its legs will sit on top of the pavement surface, rather then being dug or screwed in.
