PLANS to move the Wiltshire and Swindon county record office from Trowbridge to Chippenham have hit further delays this week.

A funding bid to get the project off the ground has to be redone and campaigners now say Chippenham simply doesn't have enough accommodation places for people from out of the area who want to use the office.

The county council plans to move the office to the former cattle market site at Cocklebury Road.

Figures provided by Susan Pope, manager of the Tourist Information Centre in Trowbridge, show that if the plans for Chippenham were to go ahead the number of accommodation places available in the town would need to increase by 300 per cent to meet the need.

Mrs Pope said the record office currently receives about 6,000 visitors from outside of Wiltshire every year, accounting for 60 per cent of all users, many of whom want accommodation in the town or nearby.

The new building would cater for 26,000 users, meaning that if the percentage of out-of-town users remains the same, 16,000 extra people a year will be looking

for accommodation in the town.

Mrs Pope said: "There are 19 nationally registered hotels and B&Bs in the Trowbridge area; over a hundred within a 10-mile radius and over 120 in west Wiltshire.

"There are currently only eight hotels and B&Bs in Chippenham and only 89 in North Wiltshire.

"Thus to cater for the users of the record office from outside Wiltshire, accommodation in Chippenham or North Wiltshire would have to increase by close on 300 per cent."

Due to increases in the costs of the project Wiltshire County Council has to submit a new bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, this time for £5.3m.

This means the total cost has risen by £3.21m, from a projected £9.2m in November 2001 to £12.41m in May 2003.

David Colcomb, spokes-man for the Record Office Campaign, said: "With the project now some four years behind schedule and its costs spiralling out of control with a 35 per cent increase in 18 months, it is surely time for the county council to take a serious grip on this project and seriously re-assess its viability."

None of the three north Wiltshire towns within 10 miles of Chippenham are connected to the town by rail, unlike the five main towns in west Wiltshire.

The new centre at Cocklebury Road is to house a local studies library, the archaeology service, the museums and conservation services.

The improved facilities are also to include new conservation laboratories and a digitalised room where electronic copies of the archives will be created and made available to the public through CD ROMS as well as over the internet.