A PLAN to revamp Dorchester's Old Crown Court and create an attraction to pull in thousands more visitors each year could get the go-ahead next week.

The court, in which the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced to extradition after forming the first trade union, has been criticised for being a "disappointing visitor experience" because it shares its entrance hall with West Dorset District Council's chamber and does not have any displays to add to the attraction.

The council, which must create disabled access to its attractions and to its meetings by 2004, is also worried that the court affects the entrance to its council chamber, because people attending meetings must go through the court to get to the meeting room.

Councillors meet on Tuesday to discuss a range of options for making both the Old Crown Court and the council chamber more accessible. A recommendation is being put to accept a plan from a firm of architects, which would see £785,000 spent on modernising the crown court attraction and providing displays, an educational room and a state of the art audio visual facility in the court itself.

The money, which would be funded from the council's reserves, would also pay for a new rear access to the chamber from the car park to allow full disabled access to both the chamber and the court. The money would not stretch, however, to providing disabled access to the cells underneath the court.

Officers also want to create a new informal meeting room with kitchen facilities for councillors and make the chamber 50 per cent bigger with better sound and presentation facilities.

David Evans, director of planning, is telling councillors on the executive committee that they have four options on the table. They are:

Do nothing.

Do nothing with the crown court but use Dorset County Council's council chamber for meetings.

Implement the architects' proposals, or

Move to modern offices elsewhere in Dorchester.

The last option has already been ruled out due to the high costs and the first option would put the council in breach of its obligation to provide disabled access under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Mr Evans also says that the county council chamber is inappropriate because of poor disabled access and acoustics. He said: "If we implement the proposals put by Fielden Clegg Bradley Architects the crown court would have the access, facilities and interpretation it deserves as a national heritage asset.

"The council would also have a chamber of sufficient size with flexibility for use for other functions."