The archives are housed on 12 miles of shelving

The Tyne and Wear Archives, which are kept on 12 miles of shelves, hold a record of the region's life going back to the 1100s.

They are used by people tracing their family history, local historians, as well as by students and other researchers.

Their current home, at Blandford House in Newcastle, is almost full to capacity, and now one man wants to see the archives moved from Tyneside to Wearside.

Sunderland historian and manager of the Workers' Educational Association, Stuart Miller, said the archives should be brought to Wearside.

He believes a purpose-built centre to house the records could be an asset to further help the city's regeneration.

'Brings people in'

Mr Miller said: "We are talking about an "attractor" to bring more people to Sunderland.

"It is an opportunity for the city council to develop a new site for the archive service, west of the bridge or in the east end.

"It is one thing to renovate historic buildings, but you need to bring people into a city if regeneration is to work, and there would be an increase in visitors if we had the archives here."

Tyne and Wear's Chief Archivist Liz Rees said: "Things are reaching a pretty crucial state at the Blandford building.

"Not only is it filling up but it is not of the standard needed for the 21st century.

"Anything is possible, but we do not have any possible new site in mind just yet. However it would have to be accessible to the people of the region."