ACCESS to millions of archived documents is to be improved thanks to a £48,800 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

North Yorkshire County Council has won the funding for an 18-month project to modernise the way the authority's archives can be used. They are currently held at the record office in Northallerton.

The money will allow the record office to publish summary descriptions of over 4,000 archives received since 1949.

Travelling exhibitions will demonstrate how important the record office's contents are for community archives and archaeology, school project work, local festivals and neighbourhood regeneration projects.

Gordon Gresty, the council's corporate director of business and community services, said: "This is a very important first step in modernising the service offered by the record office. It has only been made possible because of the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and we are grateful to them for recognising our needs.

"It will enable the record office to take its first steps into the modern digital age."