Archives could get new home above Tesco supermarket

Eight hundred years of council archives could be moved to above a Tesco supermarket so the service can keep its licence.

Buckinghamshire Council said an £11.26m plan could see the Newland Street superstore at the Eden Centre, High Wycombe, which the council owns, downsize to the ground floor, under a new surrender and renewal agreement.

Its current archive offices on Walton Street, Aylesbury, no longer meet national standards, it said.

The archives include maps, photographs and records from Victorian workhouses and prisons.

The National Archives has handed the local authority an ultimatum to sort out its cramped storage by November 2024 or risk becoming the first archive service in the country to lose its accreditation, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In a report, the council said: "[Tesco] had intended to vacate the property in its entirety, but following discussions with the council is willing to downsize into a refitted ground floor, on a new occupational lease, vacating the first and part of the second floor.

"The strongrooms that house the archives are at full capacity and do not meet current standards."

Plans include relocating Discover Bucks Museum’s collections to the store from its headquarters in Halton.

It said its resource centre was in "poor quality premises" and could revert back to a school, possibly for children with special educational needs.

It was also too small to house the archaeological findings that have been unearthed during the construction of HS2 through Buckinghamshire.

The costs would be met by Tesco, the council, existing government grants and the selling of council assets.

Conservative cabinet member John Chilver said the plan was in the "early stages" and the council was looking at a number of options.

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