DARE we hope that the final episode of the County Records Office is drawing near?

A long time ago, in a council chamber far, far away it was decided that first Devizes, then Chippenham would be the new home of the county's valuable archives.

But successive rounds of petty squabbling, back-biting and inter-town rivalry have dragged the decision-making process on for what seems like light years.

Now the county has adopted Chippenham as its official preferred site after an interminable discussion on Tuesday in which some councillors tried to get the plan switched back to Devizes.

This paper still believes Devizes is the natural choice but the decision has been made and there are plenty of reasons why Chippenham will make an excellent location.

We just hope that all of the other councils involved in the squabbling can agree and let the county get on with it.

The endless arguments are an embarrassment and the kind of small-minded local politics that encourages governments to sweep away county councils and replace them with regional assemblies.