Community to be consulted on library’s future

The Library Review Panel will hold more than the three meetings it was originally planning.

The panel endorsed a community consultation process about the future of the Kibble Park building, to be conducted in April and May 2025.

It will reconvene after the conclusion of community consultation, and the feedback has been analysed, to review the outcomes and discuss potential next steps. 

The panel, made up of councillors, will not disband until it has reviewed the consultation report and will provide recommendations to Central Coast Council around July/August 2025.

Councillors set up the panel to hold three quick meetings to review the Council decision made while under administration to demolish Gosford Library once the new regional library across the road in Donnison St is finished and open.

The committee held its third meeting on February 27 where it decided to direct Council to hold community consultations on the future of the historic building.

While some in the business community disparage its appearance, others in the community celebrate its architectural pedigree, and others highlight the merit of reusing the building as a community-based centre.

The third meeting deferred adopting the Minutes from the second meeting, with the panellists wanting more details included from the second meeting which heard from historian Merril Jackson and National Trust director David Burdon who said those in the know called the building a gem.

“It’s a very unique building that certainly has many more years of service left in it,” he said.

“Gosford library is a high-quality building.

“It is by a good architect, a very significant engineer, and is very well built. 

“The interiors feature Tasmanian oak, Douglas fir and western red cedar, and the main structure is high quality concrete construction. 

“It would be extremely expensive – indeed cost prohibitive – to build a building with these sorts of materials today.”

An open letter to the Council was tabled at the third meeting, signed by 12 community groups and another 3,500 residents calling for the building to be saved.

“We all know the community needs social infrastructure more than it needs a concrete amphitheatre,” the letter stated.

“You will be cutting the heart out of Kibble Park if you demolish one of the most significant cultural buildings left in Gosford.

“The NSW Government Architect (GA) recognised the value of the Sydney school “nuts and berries” mid-century library building and said it could be used as a future town hall or community centre to help breathe some daily life into Gosford.

“It’s called adaptive reuse and the GA understood its importance.”

The letter said that the Council needed to understand that too.

The library building is listed on the Australian Institute of Architects significant buildings in NSW and is pending National Trust listing for its heritage significance.

“It should be urgently included on our local heritage inventory,” the letter stated.

“The building has been loved by generations of residents.

“The Council‘s consultants report said the building is in very good shape.

“Everybody knows it is worth keeping and could be a future jewel of Gosford.

“The below signatories call upon the Central Coast Council to imagine a lively ground floor cafe complimented by meeting spaces, a performance space, exhibition spaces.”

The letter said the building could become essential social infrastructure, open for the use and enjoyment of all kinds of community groups and would be an effective way to revitalise the city centre.

Signatories included Progress Associations from Springfield, Kariong, Ourimbah and Davistown.

Merilyn Vale