Mitcham: street library forced to be removed from Glenburnie Road

A beloved street library, designed to encourage the sharing of books, has been removed from a Mitcham street after neighbours were threatened with a fine of up to $2000 from Whitehorse Council.

The Street Library on Glenburnie Rd has been taken down.

Mitcham neighbours who installed a communal street library on their road have been forced to take down the little book shed, after they were threatened with a $2000 fine.

The “sad state of affairs” has left residents in disbelief that Whitehorse Council would take action against the beloved library, designed to encourage the sharing of books.

The neighbours rejoiced when the library was donated to the people of Glenburnie Rd by two residents in July.

The street library was installed on the donors’ fence line.

Glenburnie Road Residents Association president John Read said before the couple installed the book house in a garden bed along their fence line they had consulted a council officer, who said the library shouldn’t need a permit if it was placed along the fence like a mailbox.

But Mr Read said the donors were shocked to later receive “a breach of by-law notice” from the council which said the library protruded onto public land by six or seven centimetres and needed to be removed, otherwise a fine of up to $2000 could be issued.

“They tried to tell us it was a danger,” he said.

After a dispute between residents and the council for several weeks, the library finally disappeared from the street earlier this month.

Residents rushed to share their books through the street library.

Neighbour John White said people could not understand the decision.

“Has our council lost it?” he said. “What a sad state of affairs.”

Mr White said the street’s community, which has formed an association for about 80 years, had maintained the street and planted trees to make it an asset for Whitehorse.

“Surely, a community library and native gardens is a better use of council nature strips than personal car parks and trailer parks that appear to be ignored by council?”

“This is council not seeing the bigger picture of what makes a community and how we get some form of societal cohesion.”

Matthew Scafidi said the issue was a waste of ratepayers’ resources.

“We are becoming such a “nanny” state,” he said.

“This is hurting nobody and there are many more things needing council attention than a library or a basketball ring that promotes community spirit and inclusion.”

Several residents said the library’s former position had seemed to minimise potential harm and said other Melbourne councils were supportive of street libraries.

Mr Read said fortunately other residents had offered to host the library safely on their private property, and it would hopefully be reinstalled in coming weeks.

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He said he thought the council had gone “a little bit too hard on the issue”, particularly with its approach.

“But we’ll relocate it and continue to enjoy the library.”

Whitehorse Council general manager corporate services Peter Smith confirmed the council required the street library to be moved from the road reserve to private property “due to safety and maintenance concerns”.

“If the owners do not relocate the street library to private property, a penalty notice may be issued,” he said.

“Council understands that these types of issues can generate strong opinions for and against.”

“There is no issue with the library operating on private land.”