A historic library has been saved from redevelopment after Barnet Council bowed to residents’ calls to keep it in its original home.

Hendon Library will remain in its Grade 2-listed building in The Burroughs, Hendon, and undergo refurbishment while its heritage and traditional features are preserved.

Plans to move the library and turn the building into a business school for Middlesex University sparked a wave of opposition, with almost 2,500 people signing an online petition against the scheme. The proposals were revealed in 2020 as part of the controversial ‘Hendon Hub’ project to redevelop council-owned sites surrounding The Burroughs.

Barnet Council says it has listened to residents and decided the historic library will remain in its current location instead of being relocated to a new building across the road. The announcement comes after the council’s Labour administration agreed to review the Hendon Hub proposals following its victory in the local elections in May.

Sara Conway, chair of the council’s community leadership and libraries committee, said: “Hendon Library is a public space cherished by so many people and is an important part of our shared heritage as a borough. We have listened to hundreds of residents who urged the council not to go ahead with plans to move it from its historic home and are delighted to announce that we will now be retaining Hendon Library within the listed building.”

Campaign group Save Hendon said it was “absolutely thrilled” that the library would no longer be leaving its home “thanks to the new Labour administration”.

Gabbie Lecoat, who set up the petition to save the library, said: “Iconic is an overused word, but the Hendon Library building truly is. It’s not just a cherished symbol of our community and the last civic building we have full access to, but also a library of national significance: it’s where children’s libraries and the BBC TV series Jackanory were invented by trailblazer Eileen Colwell.

“We hope to see at least some of the 1,600sqm (out of 1,800) of the building leased out in 2017 returned to residents so that Hendon Library can again become the vibrant, fully functional library it once was.”

The council said the refurbished library, which was originally built in 1929 and underwent a £1million revamp in 2004, will continue to hold its local studies service, a collection of local historical documents, photographs and books dating from 1600 to the present day.

Features such as the iconic central staircase and the glazed ceilings of the upper reading rooms will be preserved, the council pledged. In addition, a partnership board will be set up to allow members of the community to work with the council on issues relating to the Hendon Hub scheme.

Save Hendon said it hoped the partnership board would “provide the local community with a truly meaningful voice in how the Hendon Hub development plans are shaped, going forward”.