RESEARCHING local history? Want to get hold of a copy of the Guardian from the 1970s? Your task could be about to get a lot harder after dramatic cuts were proposed to the borough's library archive service.

Redbridge's Local Studies and Archive service, based at Ilford Central Library, is currently home to more than 150,000 items - from back issues of newspapers to original manuscripts and prints - and deals with between 6,000 and 7,000 recorded enquiries each year.

The facility is currently open for visitors to access at their leisure six days a week, with a fully qualified librarian on hand to give advice and guidance and to keep the priceless historical collection maintained and updated.

But the service could be seriously undermined if councillors agree to a new cost-cutting plan which would reduce the number of staff from six to one.

Ralph Potter, of Wanstead Parklands Community Project slammed the move - which would result in the service becoming appointment only, managed by a single unqualified assistant.

He said: "An archive is only as good as its archivist. If you can't find what you want it's of no use at all. The archives belong to the people of Redbridge and should be accessible at reasonable times.

"Depositors of invaluable historical material will think twice about handing their collections to an archive where it may not be properly cared for and difficult to access.

"In fact this is the case with Wanstead Historical Society who were negotiating the deposition of large parts of their archive but are now reconsidering. This archive will not now be available to local researchers.

"The (possible) decimation of the Local Studies and Archive Service comes at a time when interest in family history, genealogy and local history has never been greater. By the council's own admission the service is meeting all performance criteria and is one of the lowest cost such services in London.

"The current staff have always given first class service and often gone above and beyond to be helpful. They know the interests of their clients and have often taken the initiative to contact clients when new information emerges. The Wanstead Parklands Community Project is greatly appreciative of this service in their compilation of the history of Wanstead Park without which the park would not now be recognised by English Heritage as At Risk. The loss of such experience is irreplaceable."

A decision is due to be made on the plan at a meeting of the council's cabinet at Ilford Town Hall on Monday, January 11.

In the agenda for the meeting council officers said the cuts would save £46,000 this financial year and £68,000 annually from then on - despite the initial £60,000 cost of making five of the team redundant.

It read: "Most London boroughs provide some form of local studies and archives service but the size of collections and the nature of the provision vary considerably.

"Currently, Redbridge is one of the boroughs with the longest opening hours. Many London services only offer limited evening access and are closed lunchtimes and/or specific, whole days of the week."

Officers acknowledged that the move could 'impact' on the number of people who currently use the borough's libraries.

A council spokeswoman said: "The proposal is for the local studies room in the Central Library to be administered by a full time equivalent local studies and archives assistant with 25 hours appointments being available per week. Currently the service operates with 3.5 full time equivalent members of staff.

If the proposal is to go ahead, we expect there to be no redundancies amongst the six staff ( 3.5 full time equivalents ) and we would do our very best to achieve this.

Staff would be re-deployed in vacant posts within the Library wherever possible, redundancies are the last resort.

To see the agenda visit: redbridge.gov.uk.