PLANS to transform Albaston Chapel into a permanent home for the Calstock Parish Archive and a multi-use public space received a fantastic amount of support at a special consultation day on Saturday.

Around 80 people came to view Calstock Parish Council's plans for the chapel, which include dividing the space into two areas, insulating the building, installing solar panels on the south roof, incorporating an outside toilet inside and putting in a disabled ramp. There will be little change to the outside of the building.

One area will be storage for the archive, which has outgrown its small office in the Tamar Valley, and the second area, divided by a half solid wall and half-glazed so the impressive vaulted ceiling can be seen, will be large enough to host a small religious service, for a meeting space or for a class of schoolchildren to visit and for the public to research history.

Some 68 questionnaires were filled in with everyone supporting the scheme which is likely to cost between £100,000 and £150,000.

Implementation will depend on grant applications being successful.

Cllr Dick Hoile said it costs £4,000 to keep the building running and with around just four funerals a year in the chapel that did not make economical sense.

The chapel was closed a year ago and the community was asked what it would like to see happen there in the future. The archive was considered the most suitable use as the site is surrounded by a cemetery.

Lynda Harman from the archive said Calstock parish archive was set up in 1985 and is run entirely by volunteers.  It was originally based at Calstock Village Hall, but moved to the Tamar Valley Centre four years ago and during that time the collection has grown significantly and space is now at a premium again.

She said:?'We are bursting at the seams and we are getting more and more documents all the time as the archive gains higher profile.

'Because of the mining history we get a lot of people here researching their family from Australia and America and further up-country, like Northumberland.'

The parish council will meet later this month to review the feedback forms and discuss the project's future in terms of gaining the funding. There were a few concerns about parking from local residents and these will be addressed.