East Sussex County Council (ESCC) has unveiled plans for a new £19m historical resource centre near Falmer, Brighton, as part of a public consultation.

Local residents will be given the chance to comment on proposals for The Keep, which will be built at Woollards Field and will house more than six miles of archive material dating back 900 years. Working alongside the University of Sussex and Brighton and Hove City Council, ESCC aims to submit a planning application later this summer in order to allow work to start in 2011.

Scheduled to open in 2013, The Keep is set to boast public search rooms and facilities that will be available to members of the public, while also seeking to engage with local community groups. An ESCC spokesperson said: "The Keep will provide a home for all the archives of East Sussex and Brighton and Hove and the Special Collections of the University of Sussex.

"The building will also include the library and headquarters of the Sussex Family History Group." The consultation, which started on 26 April and will run until 28 May, will see events held at Lewes and Eastbourne Libraries during May, as well as Jubilee Library in Brighton.