Have your say on Historic Archives

Have your say on the location of Cheshire's historic archives

Cheshire East Council wants your views about the best place to locate the county's historic archives and local studies service.

Around 5,000 people a year visit the Record Office, in Duke Street, Chester, and a further 3,000 people attend or participate in outreach events and activities run by the service.
However, the storage conditions for Cheshire's unique and irreplaceable written heritage – which date from the 12th century to the present – are inadequate.

The environmental conditions do not meet current standards and there is little expansion space for the growing collection held by the service. Customer facilities at the Record Office are cramped and increasingly do not meet customers' needs.

Councillors from Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East councils have therefore asked for a feasibility study into potential new premises – and want the views of the public.

The two councils are now holding a public consultation, in partnership with Warrington and Halton Borough councils and Warrington-based Livewire Community Interest Company, to gather views about locations being considered as a potential new home for Cheshire Archives and Local Studies service. This is your chance to have your say.

The following locations have been identified as potentially suitable for the archives and local studies service. These were chosen by elected members both CWaC and Cheshire East councils, advised and supported by officers. They are:

Chester: former Enterprise Centre, Hoole Road
Crewe: town centre site as part of regeneration programme for the town
Ellesmere Port: EPIC Leisure Centre
Middlewich: town centre site as part of regeneration programme for the town
Northwich: Watling Street council offices
Winsford: Verdin Exchange.

The existing Record Office at Duke Street, Chester, will also be assessed to see if it is feasible to bring the building up to the required environmental standards and to create space to expand.

The aim of the consultation is to determine people's views on the general location rather than specific sites. The results will be used to inform a decision later this year about a future home for the service.

A further consultation about the design of the new facility and the services provided will take place once funding has been secured. This funding would be sourced from both councils and possible external sources, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The service preserves and provides access to the historic written record of the county of Cheshire. The archives reflect the lives, interests and activities of Cheshire's communities since the 12th century. The archives, maps, books and photographs include:

• Medieval charters granting rights to the Borough of Macclesfield;
• Cheshire's earliest map of about 1540, showing farmland in Allostock;
• Cheshire's earliest photographs, dating from the 1850s;
• Records of workers at the London and North Western Railway works at Crewe
• and 19th – 21st century records of schools, hospitals and courts.

About a million people visit the service's websites every year and about 7,500 people each year make use of the service the archives and local studies service provides in libraries around the Borough.

The consultation runs until June 30th, 2014. For more information visit the archives website at: http://archives.cheshire.gov.uk

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