A TOURING exhibition of the proposed new county record office will arrive in Devizes on Monday.

It will be at the library in Sheep Street until June 25.

The plans show what the £12.1million record office and heritage centre in Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, will look like.

The state-of-the-art facility will combine a record office with a wide range of other heritage services on one site.

As well as the record office the new building will house the local studies library, the archaeology service and the museums and conservation services.

There will also be improved facilities for conservation laboratories and better facilities for schools and colleges, including an education room.

The location for the record office has been the source of a bitter row between councillors in Trowbridge, Devizes, Chippenham and Swindon.

The original plan was for it to be based at Devizes Wharf but this was shelved when Swindon Borough Council gave it the thumbs down.

As a compromise Swindon and Wiltshire councils agreed on Chippenham as the new location.

A bid for lottery funding is to be made to help pay for the new record office.

A new centre is badly needed to replace the ageing record office in Trowbridge.

People who visit the exhibition at Devizes library will be asked for their views by filling in comment forms.

After it leaves Devizes, the exhibition will go to Salisbury. It has previously been to Trowbridge, Chippenham and Swindon.