Buckinghamshire Council to move archives into Tesco’s High Wycombe superstore

Buckinghamshire Council will move the county archives into Tesco’s High Wycombe superstore, with the retailer to occupy the ground floor only.

The local authority currently keeps the county’s treasure trove of maps, photographs, electoral registers and other records in cramped storage space at its Walton Street offices in Aylesbury.

But the strong rooms housing the archives have now reached capacity and the council could lose its archiving licence unless it finds more space.

To resolve the issue, the council has chosen to move the archives onto the first floor of the Tesco building at 19 Denmark Street, which it owns.

A new planning application submitted by the council reads: “The proposal is for the existing Tesco Store to surrender its lease with Buckinghamshire Council and vacate the building.

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“Buckinghamshire Council will then create a new demise for Tesco solely on the ground floor. The council will then redevelop and let the first and second floor to new tenants.

“The proposals also seek to improve the architectural quality of the building’s prominent North Eastern elevation which is currently an introverted and austere facade incorporating minimal fenestration.”

The first floor is likely to be used as an archive and storage area, which will be located within the southern part of the building as it will not require natural light.

The remainder of the first floor will accommodate office space, while the second floor will potentially house meeting space and office functions.

Floorplans show a 600msq archive storage area with several aisles, as well as smaller spaces for digital work, a conservation room and other archiving activities.

In previous documents, the council said the National Archives had told it that it had to resolve its archive storage issues by November 2024.

The local authority also said of Tesco: “The tenant had intended to vacate the property in its entirety, but following discussions with the council, is willing to downsize into a re-fitted ground floor, on a new occupational lease, vacating the first and part of the second floor.”

The new plans say that Tesco is ‘consolidating its retail floorspace into the ground floor’ of the site due to ‘recent retail trends’.

They added: “This would leave the first floor vacant – and therefore making little or no contribution to the town centre economy. The second floor is already vacant.”

Meanwhile, Tesco has put forward a related proposal to improve the shopfront of the part of the supermarket that faces Denmark Street.

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