As part of long-term planning for the Suffolk Archives service, the County Council is looking at options for either remaining at its current location in Raingate Street or moving to the planned new Western Way Development.
Recent investigations have shown that if the service were to remain at Raingate Street, alterations requiring significant investment would be needed for the long-term future sustainability of the building. Improvements would also be needed to increase accessibility for disabled users.
The Council’s preferred option is therefore to relocate the service to the new Western Way Development.
Moving to the new development, located close to the centre of Bury St Edmunds, would improve accessibility, as the service would be situated on the ground floor, enabling more people to visit and access the service. The proposed location would house a purpose-built strong-room would create accrual space for the West Suffolk Collections for at least the next 30 years as well as modern facilities to support education and research.
The move would also unlock new opportunities to work with the health and leisure partners on site to develop community-based projects which can support health and well-being.
Councillor Bobby Bennett, Cabinet Member for Equality and Communities, said:
“The Western Way development presents an exciting opportunity to invest in the archives service in the West of the county, protecting it for future generations.
“We need to ensure that our archives service is fit for the future, operates efficiently and provides value for money for our residents. It also needs to be accessible to all our visitors, whether it remains at our existing branch in Raingate Street or moves to the new development at Western Way.
“We are committed to continuing to provide an archives branch in Bury St Edmunds, as well as preserving and storing archive documents from the area going back centuries, safely for future generations.
“Our archives branches are open to everyone, and we want to share the Suffolk stories and histories we hold spanning more than 900 years of history, with as many local people as possible.”
Suffolk County Council will consider the proposals to move the service to the new Western Way Development at a meeting of the Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday 21 February.
View the papers for this meeting.
