'Preferred bidder' revealed to take over three city libraries

COMPANY WOULD RUN THE SITES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CITIZENS ADVICE

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

NOTTINGHAM City Council has confirmed the company it would like to take over three of its libraries after their closures were avoided.

The Labour-run authority has been “under immense pressure” trying to save £1.5 million from its library service and previous plans would have seen four of them shut.

The council eventually backtracked on those plans when announcing in January 2025 that the Aspley, Basford and Bilborough libraries would be run by the voluntary sector. Radford-Lenton is still set to be run by the council, but the authority says it will become a “centralised stock hub” featuring a scaled-down library service.

It has now been revealed that Nottingham City Council has a “preferred bidder” for the Aspley, Basford and Bilborough sites. Castle Cavendish has confirmed it has been in “detailed discussions” with the council about taking on the libraries in partnership with Citizens Advice.