Thousands join campaign against closure of Lowestoft Record Office
Plans to close Lowestoft’s Record Office as a new Suffolk heritage centre is built have been met with protests.
In January, Suffolk County Council approved plans for The Hold, a £20m facility in the University of Suffolk campus on the waterfront of Ipswich to house Suffolk Record Office’s collections.
However, it also announced that the record office branch located in Lowestoft Library would be replaced by an unmanned access point from the end of 2019, when The Hold opens.
In response, local historian Trudie Jackson and Janis Kirby of the Suffolk Family History Society co-founded Save Our Record Office (SORO), a group to campaign about the closure. Online and print petitions have already attracted more than 5,100 signatures.
Ms Jackson told Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine: “We have had so much taken away from us, and now they want to take our heritage too.”
In response, the council said that it had put the plans on hold and wanted to meet with SORO and other interested groups to discuss the future of the record office. However, at the time of writing, SORO said that it would not meet with the council until it was assured that there would be a full public consultation.
Councillor Tony Goldson said: “Our priority is to preserve Suffolk’s archives in the best possible conditions for the use of current and future generations, and working with local groups we hope to reach a solution that benefits all.”