Artist's ImpressionCAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office in Trowbridge have lost a crucial stage of the battle.

A heritage centre which will include the record office and is expected to attract over 25,000 visitors every year has been given permission to be built on land in Chippenham.

The decision means the £11.6m Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office can be moved from next to Trowbridge library to Cocklebury Road, in Chippenham.

Opponents of the plan are vowing to challenge the decision to take the record office out of the county town but have ruled out seeking a judicial review.

North Wiltshire District Council's development control committee granted planning permission for the Wiltshire County Council project on Wednesday night.

Keith Robinson, chief executive, said: "This is good news. The new building will protect Wiltshire and Swindon's unique heritage for years to come by ensuring that the records are stored in the best possible conditions and to nationally recognised standards.

"The facility will also offer a much better and easier to use service for the public, schools, colleges and people researching their family history, by enabling them to gain access to the full range of heritage services on a single site."

Opponents fear traffic chaos and safety problems if a tourist destination is built next to a power plant. They have accused councils of ignoring their own guidelines.

Campaigner Andy Milroy, of Bellefield Crescent, Trowbridge, said: "Around 87 per cent of visitors will arrive by car and many of them will be retired people and they are not going to want to wind their way through a congested town centre.

"We also have safety fears that the record office will be built next to two transformers. We have seen transformers explode in Middlesborough and near Manchester."

The new centre will include a local studies library, an archaeology service, the county's building records, a museum and conservation headquarters.