Council takes steps to evict squatters who took over closed library

A local authority has started legal action to evict squatters who took over a library that was closed in April, whilst simultaneously holding talks about re-opening the site as a volunteer-run library.

The squatters moved into the building in Friern Barnet last week, just days after a change in the law came into effect making it a criminal offence to squat in a residential building.

The council agreed to meetings to discuss the provision of a volunteer-run library.

One of the squatters told The Guardian that they would be occupying the building “over the next weeks and months” and their aim was to get it officially re-opened as a community library resource.

He argued that the building was given by the Carnegie Trust to the people of Barnet to have a library as a resource. “We don’t think the council has a right to sell it off,” the squatter added.

The local authority has been to court and expects to serve notices on the squatters in the next few days.

A spokeswoman for Barnet said: “The council is genuinely enthusiastic about any group proposing ideas to run a community library in Friary House. However, it is important that public assets are protected and we have now started the legal process to have the squatters removed, although this is not a quick process.

“We are continuing to have discussions in good faith about the possibility of the group opening a community library in Friary House. This is not connected to their occupation of the former Friern Barnet Library building.”