Radcliffe Enterprise Centre and Library update

An enterprise centre is a place where people can work, start businesses, and get support and help to grow their business. 

Radcliffe needs an enterprise centre because unemployment is higher in Radcliffe than in many other parts of the Bury Borough. There also is not much office space within Radcliffe town centre and because of this often small businesses have to leave the town. The centre will offer people a place to work with hot desks and small offices to rent as well as easy to use advice and resources from experts. This will help small businesses start up and grow.

The enterprise centre will have two floors.

On the ground floor there will be:

• Shared desks anyone can use (hot desks) 
• 8 rentable offices 
• A meeting room 
• Areas to have informal meetings 
• Access to Wi-Fi throughout the building  
• Kitchen space 
• Printed and online resources  
• Advice and information  

On the first floor (after the library has moved to the Hub in 2026) there will be:  

• Meeting rooms 
• Flexible spaces to work 

The library space will be smaller, but customers will still be able to borrow books, use computers, and take part in community groups and sessions. 

Until the new Radcliffe Hub building is complete and ready for the library to move in during 2026.

Because the £1.2m UK Government funding for the enterprise centre must be spent in 2025. Therefore, the constructions works to adapt the ground floor of the building must start this year

Carnegie Status is a library or public building built with money from a man named Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist who was one of the richest men in the US in the late 19^th and early 20^th Century.  He provided funds to build and equip the libraries and other buildings like schools, colleges, and research facilities, but only on the condition that the local authority matched that by providing the land and a budget for operation and maintenance. In Radcliffe’s case it was the landowner, the Earl of Derby who donated the land.   

Carnegie Status doesn't mean that a building must stay a library forever, however the covenant placed on the deed by the donor of the land at the time does need to be addressed.  Following legal advice, we have identified the descendants of the original covenant and we are negotiating with those families to ensure they are happy with the proposal to build a bigger, better, and more accessible library in the town centre at the Hub.

The Department for, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are responsible for superintending the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act to ensure that library authorities are delivering the statutory functions as outlined in the act.  

 They have been consulted as part of this process. We will continue to work with DCMS throughout the temporary move and future move to the new Radcliffe Hub. 

The Hub is a new building where our library, learning, leisure and wellbeing services will come together in one place. There will also be a Clip’n Climb indoor climbing facility and a roof top space for gym and other activities.

For the library, moving to the Hub will mean:  

• Longer opening hours 

• More space 

• More modern premises 

• More opportunity for people using other council services to use the library (and vice versa)  

The library relocated to the first floor during November. The library was closed from 1pm on Saturday 2 November until 10am on Tuesday 3 December. The library will remain open on the first floor until Radcliffe Hub is ready.

The library will move to its new permanent home at the Radcliffe Hub during spring 2026.

Works will begin in early 2025 with completion anticipated later in the year.

The first floor will be adapted for the enterprise centre after the library has moved to the new Radcliffe Hub in 2026.

The £1.7 million Radcliffe Enterprise Centre is being funded jointly by UK Government and Bury Council:

• £1.2m UK Government (UK Shared Prosperity Fund)
• £500k Bury Council

No. When the Government allocates money for specific things, the rules associated with the funding award mean it cannot be used for anything other than the purposes it was intended for.