A NEW chapter in Herefordshire’s history books can begin after plans for an £8 million archive centre were approved this morning.

The county’s archive and records service will move to a new home in Rotherwas after Herefordshire Council branded the current Harold Street base “not fit for purpose”.

The new venue on Fir Tree Lane will also boast a dedicated educational room and improved access for the public.

Local member Councillor Peter Sinclair-Knipe told members of the council’s planning committee he was staggered at the amount of material that is stored by the service.

A recent 18-month restoration project saw more than 100,000 individual items checked, almost 4,000 wills wrapped and around five kilometres of archive tape used.

But the move wasn’t unanimously supported by the committee.

Coun Felicity Norman raised concern the new home would be out-of-town and hard to get to.