BARNSLEY Central Library will be demolished in the coming months to make way for a new £16million sixth form college.
A Barnsley Council report has outlined proposals to build the college on Shambles Street, the preferred site of both the council and the college.
It means the library - along with a parade of shops, offices, an electricity substation and private car parking - will be flattened to make way for the new 7,000 square metre college building.
It would replace the existing sixth form on Eastgate, which, according to the report, has 'pressing health and safety, safeguarding and access deficiencies' compared with the college's main building on Old Mill Lane.
It will cost about £16million, with £5.3million in grant funding already secured. The remaining finance is being raised through asset disposal and borrowing.
The reports says a new sixth form will support Barnsley's aims to create more jobs and increase the number of A-level students from 850 to 1,100.
It means the library, built in 1973, will have to be relocated to the historic Wellington House on Market Street.
Approval for the development will go before the council's ruling Cabinet later this month, with the site expected to become available in February and demolition - costing around £250,000 - starting as soon as April.
The new college is scheduled to open in under two years' time.
Council leader Sir Steve Houghton confirmed the library's move to Wellington House was only a short-term one.
He said: "I think it's important to have a state-of-the-art library in the town centre and this redevelopment gives us the opportunity to achieve just that.
"We welcome the sixth form college, it will improve the gateway to the town centre from that end of town and increase footfall for the shops and businesses in the vicinity.
"People should be assured a library will remain in the town centre of Barnsley and we want to to be the best it can possibly be.
"The proposal indicates the college would have the potential to bring £7.7million into the local economy."
The demolition of the central library follows news that nine of the borough's 17 libraries face a reduction in their opening hours after a review into the future of libraries in Barnsley.
