£5m bid for record office

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Saturday 1st Mar 2003.

A LOTTERY bid to fund a £5 million records office for Swindon and Wiltshire has been approved by Wiltshire County Council.

The bid will now go before Swindon Council on Wednesday before being submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A final decision is successful is expected by April 2004.

The total budget for the facility is expected to exceed £12 million with much of the remainder of the bill being footed by Wiltshire and Swindon councils.

The new record office is to be built on the cattle market site in Chippenham.

In addition to archives it will house a local studies library, the archaeology service and the museums and conservation services.

There will also be a public research zone and an education room.

The new Swindon and Wiltshire Records Office is needed because of the poor state of the existing facility in Trowbridge.

If a replacement for it is not built the county's records may have to be moved to London.

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