A new library will help put the county town on the cultural map, council chiefs claim.

Kent County Council announced this morning that it is to shut the County Central Library and the town library, both in Maidstone, to pay for the new library and history centre in the town.

Architects have designed a glass-fronted building, to be known as the Kent History Centre, with landscaped piazzas that will combine the town's reference and lending libraries, the archives for the whole county, housing and a cafe and family history area.

It will sit off the White Rabbit Roundabout on James Whatman Way.

The cost is expected to be at least £10m - £4m of which will come directly from KCC with the shortfall being made up by the sale of land at the old Springfield library for housing.

Maidstone council leader Cllr Fran Wilson (Lib Dem) said: "This is so exciting for the town.

"The opening of the new wing at Maidstone Museum and the new history centre will make such a difference to the cultural life of both the town and the borough."

It is unclear what will happen to Maidstone Library, which was built in the 1960s and is no longer deemed suitable for storing books and important records.

For full story, see Friday's Kent Messenger