Westhoughton Library masonry falls again

Masonry that has fallen from Westhoughton Library

More chunks of masonry have fallen from Westhoughton Library.

The pieces of red brick fell onto the pavement below on Library Street.

Westhoughton North councillor Arthur Price raised the issue to Bolton Council last November 2023 and was assured that the building was safe.

Since then more masonry has continued to fall and temporary fencing has had to be installed to protect passing pedestrians.

Bolton Council have now admitted that health and safety concerns will mean that scaffolding will now need to be erected around the building in order to carry out repairs.

Councillor Price said: “This building was so-called ‘safe’ and now it needs urgent repairs. I’m not happy about the council’s slow response to this. This comes on top of the council spending £900,000 on the town hall’s roof which now has a major leak in it. Water is running through the roof like a mini waterfall.”

“This Labour administration was warned about this and it has taken them three months to do anything about it.

“We are very, very fortunate that nobody passing by has been hit by falling masonry.”