Willesden Green Station book swap to return

 

I am sharing this news received via Facebook. After a campaign led by local residents LINK the surface level station book swaps will return.

Message from TfL:

Community book swap libraries will start to return to surface level London Underground stations in May after London Fire Brigade (LFB) and Transport for London (TfL) worked in partnership to agree the use of a suitable fire-proof storage solution.

New cabinets will be introduced at a number of stations, starting with High Barnet and enabling the valuable community assets of book swap libraries to be re-established in those locations.

The cabinets, from a third-party supplier, are both compliant with fire safety regulations and meet the unique requirements for the London Underground in terms of fire safety, accessibility, and network security.

 

Locations where book swap libraries will be re-introduced from May are:

Acton Town
Cockfosters
Ealing Common
East Finchley
Hammersmith
High Barnet
Kew Gardens
Kilburn
Morden
Northfields
Oakwood
Ravenscourt Park
Stamford Brook
Totteridge & Whetstone
Willesden Green

TfL and LFB are continuing working together on the issue of book swap libraries at sub-surface London Underground stations, which are subject to more stringent regulations.

 

At these locations, finding a solution that is compliant with fire safety regulations is currently not possible.

However, we will be exploring with the Government whether the regulations could be reviewed, which could potentially allow for the return of these community assets with appropriate risk assessment and mitigations in the future.

 

I appreciate that there has been some uncertainty related to book swaps, but I do hope this good news addresses any questions in relation to the recent safety issues with the book swaps.