A NEW all-in-one county record office has been approved for Chippenham despite claims a Trowbridge site would have six times the level of support.

The £11.6m Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office gained the backing of the county council's cabinet on Friday, but the future of its current Trowbridge site is yet to be finalised.

By 2007/08 all Wiltshire's heritage services will be housed under the same roof on the site of Chippenham's former cattle market.

The record office project suffered a major setback in January when the Heritage Lottery Fund turned down a bid for a £5.3m grant.

But although the county council has now chosen an option which is £800,000 cheaper, members remain convinced it will still represent the best service available for the public.

County council leader Jane Scott said: "Our intention has always been to build a state-of-the-art heritage centre to house and protect our unique records and to provide the very best facilities to allow local people and visitors alike to study them and to carry out research.

"This is by far the best option open to the county council. We can now get on with the job of actually building it. By 2007 we'll have an excellent facility for all the people of Wiltshire and the south west."

The new building will combine the record office with the local studies library, the archaeology service, Wiltshire buildings record, museum service and the conservation service.

With no lottery cash available Wiltshire County Council will now contribute £8.85m towards the cost of the project and Swindon Borough Council £2.75m.

The county council had already allocated over £6.7m towards the costs and a further £2.1m will be reinvested in the Chippenham site following the sale of the Allington School site.

The county council will acquire the land under a 125-year lease from North Wiltshire District Council at a cost of £444,000.

Friday's decision has been condemned by those fighting to keep the record office in Trowbridge who have accused the cabinet of favouring north Wiltshire.

Campaigner David Colcomb said a survey of record office users showed 39.2 per cent supported Trowbridge while only six per cent backed Chippenham.

Andy Milroy said: "So, rejecting all the factual evidence showing that there was a far cheaper option, the North Wiltshire Cabal are still locked into their mission to take the record office to Chippenham at all costs."

Further opposition to the decision has come from Wiltshire's Liberal Democrats who have asked for it to be 'called in for proper scrutiny'.