Borough council defeats High Court legal action over closure of library

The case of Page, R (On the Application Of) v Darlington Borough Council [2018] EWHC 1818 concerned the fate of the Crown Street Library, which opened in Darlington in 1885.

It was built as a library, and was gifted to the people of Darlington by the Pease family, a wealthy local Quaker family with links to the town. The original library building was extended in 1900 and 1930, by building on land also gifted by the Pease family.

The library is a grade II listed building which is significant for planning purposes because of its preserved interior and its continued use as a functioning library.

On 23 March 2017, Darlington decided to close the Crown Street library and move it to the Dolphin Centre.

The decision was challenged by Brenda Page, who was a representative of the wider community of Darlington and was advised by law firm Watkins & Gunn.

She argued that the council's closure decision was vitiated by a failure to conduct a proper consultation process and was in breach of her legitimate expectation.

Darlington resisted the application, arguing that the two consultations which took place before the decision was made were properly conducted, and denying that the claimant had any legitimate expectation at all.

Mrs Justice Whipple, who rejected a bid by the claimant to further amend her grounds to include two further allegations, dismissed the claim.

Cllr Nick Wallis, Darlington’s Cabinet member for Leisure and Local Environment, said: “The judgement reinforces our long-held view that the consultation process that underpinned the decision to relocate the library service was open, fair and transparent – and, above all, lawful. This judgement is a vindication of the very thorough and careful work that has been undertaken throughout the process.

“The council has previously made a decision to relocate and we will consider our next steps in regard to the future of the library service in the coming weeks. There are no immediate actions planned, as we have been awaiting the outcome of the legal proceedings.

“We will now contact the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to relay the judge’s findings. We will also seek to understand how they wish to resolve the outstanding complaint to DCMS over the proposed changes to the library service.”