From earth to zen haven

Anchorsholme councillors Tony Williams and Paul Galley have backed the ambitious rejuvenation project which will take place on the land outside Anchorsholme Library on Luton Road.

Coun Williams said: “The area outside Anchorsholme library is a nice, protected little area where people can chill out.

“I love Chinese traditional music, it’s one of my favourite types of music, and we thought it would be something nice and a little bit different to go with a Zen garden theme.

“We are going to have traditional Chinese music playing in the background, as well as scented flowers and plants.

“Anchorsholme Primary School has a Confucius room and teaches Mandarin as a foreign language so it will help them too.”

The project, supported by the Friends of Eastpines Park group, aims to boost community interest in the library, which has been put under pressure by recent government cuts.

Coun Galley said: “We want to get more people using the library and supporting their local services and we’re hoping we can get volunteers involved.

“It’s quite an exciting step forward.

“We want it to be a community-based area, not just for Anchorsholme but for Norbreck as well.

“The more it has that community appeal, the more people will use the library and the lower the chances of it closing down in the future.”

Coun Williams said: “We are now looking at our options and seeing where we can go from here.

“Designers are now coming up with plans so we can see what we like, but we’re definitely going with a Chinese theme.

“We are hoping work will start within the next couple of weeks, and will be done by the end of Spring or early Summer.”