COUNCILLORS plan to spend £290,000 improving the library and a play park in Newquay.

Newquay Town Council is proposing a £190,000 scheme to replace the roof of the library in Marcus Hill and £100,000 enhancing the play park at South Fistral car park.

The authority considered constructing a new library but has decided to replace the roof as a rebuild would be too costly.

The library could potentially have solar panels installed on the new roof in a bid to save money in the long-term.

Chairman Sarah Thomson said: “The library needs a new roof. It has been looked at and needs repairing.

“The library was built in the 1960s and has a flat roof, which are notorious for leaking.

“The library is such a community hub. It is the best library in the county, which serves the largest town in the county.

“It is a warm and safe space used by groups. It is highly valued and it’s the centre of the community but needs to be maintained.

“We originally hoped to build a new library, but the money is not there. It seems like a lot of money to spend on building work for a new roof , but it’s about updating a community asset.

“The South Fistral play area needs updating. Improving its current state takes so much money. It is quite shocking really.

“The scheme is about looking after a community asset, which is valuable play space that children and families enjoy.”

The governance and resources committee has recommended allocating £28,500 of its Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding towards the library roof improvement project and £15,000 to the South Fistral Play Area Project.

Newquay Town Council’s full committee will have the final say on whether the CIL funding is spent on the projects, which will leave £11, 284 in its unallocated balance.

Cllr Thomson said: “The town council will receive a load more CIL money and it has to be spent within a certain timeframe.”

Newquay Town Council has previously spent CIL funding towards creating a play area at Mount Wise.

Kieran England, town council’s grants officer, said: “Newquay Town Council currently holds a CIL funding balance of £224,006.

“Of this total, £169,222 has already been allocated to support existing and ongoing approved projects.

“This results in an unallocated CIL balance of £54,784.

“While it is positive the town council retains available CIL funding, the level of uncommitted funding presents a potential barrier to progressing further CIL applications.

“Maintaining a high unallocated balance impacts the council’s ability to demonstrate financial commitment or readiness when applying for additional external CIL funding opportunities.

“Reducing the current unallocated balance through strategic allocations to upcoming priority projects would strengthen future funding bids, including potential applications to the CIL Connecting Communities Fund (round five) and other infrastructure-related programmes.

“It is recommended that members approve, in principle, the allocation of 15 per cent match funding from the remaining unallocated CIL balance to support the Library Roof Improvement Project and the South Fistral Play Area Project.”