Suffolk County Council have announced the closure in 2019 of our local Record Office in Lowestoft which houses archives, records and local studies materials from the North East Suffolk area. They will then be moved to a new Heritage Centre called The Hold in Ipswich which will cost £16 million to build.

Local people are angry about this as we feel our heritage is being stolen from us. Parts of our area are quite deprived and attempts are being made to regenerate them by putting people in touch with their heritage, what message does it send to them when that heritage is removed to Ipswich.

Many people have deposited records to our Record Office on the understanding they would be easily available for anyone in the local area to access. They are now facing the removal of their documents to the other side of the county.

Ipswich is three hour round trip away by car or train and a five hour round trip by bus. Local historians and researchers who use the office and records on a weekly basis would no longer be able to do so. 

In 2015 we were told that the building of The Hold would "replace the Ipswich Record Office and provide the specialist storage needed to preserve the county's unique heritage for the next 20 years. A record office presence will be retained in Bury St Edmund's and Lowestoft." (Report to Friends of the Suffolk Record Office AGM by Kate Chantry, Suffolk Record Office Manager 25/09/2015)

Just two years four months later and totally unexpectedly we are told it will be closing. Not only that but many of our Suffolk County, Waveney District and local Town councillors had no idea this was happening until it was announced in the press!

Where is democracy there?

We want this decision reversed and no decisions made on the Record Office without a full consultation and agreement with all interested local parties.