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Pre
2001 | Please click here to look back at the year 2000, and further back into the twentieth century. | | 2001 | In the new year the weather started frosty and these conditions continued. It remained cold and wet for weeks when the frosts ended.
February continued to be extremely wet all over the country and in some places which were flooded last year, the same floods came again and again. Suffolk had some localised house floods, but nothing as bad as elsewhere.
The country was really hit badly from a completely unexpected quarter, when a case of Foot and Mouth disease was recorded on February 24th. What followed was to become a nightmare for the rural economy. Cases were reported in Essex and from many widely scattered locations, but it was to become worst in Cumbria. Infected animals were culled and their carcasses burnt in giant pyres in the open fields.
During March, the Foot and Mouth outbreaks escalated alarmingly. Footpaths were closed across the country, and at first, the public were urged to stay out of the countryside. Rural areas lost their normal traffic and it soon became clear that other industries than farming were being hard hit, as well. Country Parks like Nowton Park, West Stow Country Park, East Town Park in Haverhill, and even Hardwick Heath were shut down. It was feared that visiting wild deer would spread the disease. All the Nature Reserves of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust were shut. The National Trust shut all its rural sites including Ickworth Park. All farms and farm attractions closed.
The slaughter policy was extended to healthy animals which might have had contact with the disease and there was difficulty in keeping the disposal of the dead animals up with the culls.
To add to the country's troubles, the price of road fuel began to rise again, despite the Chancellor's cut of 2p a litre in fuel duty on Ultra Low Sulphur diesel oil.
There was a strange result of the heavy rains on the A143 road between Great Barton and Ixworth. The water table was now so near the surface that in one place, water started to flow across the road, apparently from nowhere. By the end of March, it was getting deeper until it was a foot deep or more. (ie over 30 cms deep)
In April the A143 had to be opened by installing heavy pumping equipment to remove the surface water.
Another less busy road from Thurston to Bury remained flooded and partly impassable well into June.
By now it was widely recognised that the rural economy was in deep trouble, and the government now had to sell the message that the countryside was open for business. Suffolk County Council allowed most of its footpath closures to lapse on midnight of 31st March, but re-imposed closure where there was a likely proximity to livestock. By Easter, many rural attractions had re-opened with government blessing, including Nowton Park and all the St Edmundsbury parks except for West Stow, where there remained pigs and sheep which need to be kept isolated. Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserves stayed closed until 5th May.
The Quik Save store in Risbygate Street closed down. It had been bought by Roy's of Wroxham, who refurbished it and reopened the store by June.
Electoral matters were quite prevalent in 2001. Firstly the Local Government Commission proposed changes to many of the wards in St Edmundsbury, reducing them from 33 to 31, but increasing the number of councillors from 44 to 45. Next, there was apoll of Bury conducted by the Borough which showed that a large majority of those voting wanted a new Town Council for Bury to operate alongside the existing Borough and County Councils. Both proposals would operate from May 2003.
In August, the world's press were strangely excited by the installation of the Internet Bench in the Abbey Gardens in Bury. The Microsoft company, MSN, had been looking for a partner to host an ordinary park bench which had been converted to allow four users to log on to the internet in the open air, at no cost to the user. Bury became the successful bidder for this event, when the Parks manager made a submission in rhyme, emphasising the use that tourists could make of it in the Abbey Gardens. The Bury Free Press even set up a website to promote continued interest in its use.
In August the Borough Council decided to ballot its tenants on whether to transfer its housing stock to a new body to be called the Havebury Housing Partnership. This would effect about 6,000 homes but guarantee big increases in spending on improvements to houses, and provide lower levels of rent rises than the council could deliver.
The news continued to be dominated by the effects of Foot and Mouth disease on the tourist trade until September 11th.
On September 11th the world changed when two aeroplanes were hi-jacked and crashed into both towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Fear of terrorist attack now dominated the minds of many people, and tourism in the UK suffered even worse declines.
The local air bases were again embroiled in security alerts and became operational when Afghanistan was attacked by allied forces seeking to capture Osama bin Laden, widely held responsible for the World Trade Centre attack.
Stock Markets slumped for a month, but seemed to pick up by the end of the year, although still lower than a year earlier.
The Boer War memorial on the Cornhill was refurbished at the end of the year, and the stone name panels were all replaced and the names re-cut.
In October the tenants ballot results were announced and showed a high level of support for the proposal to transfer council houses to the new body. The turnout was 74% and 71% of the votes were in favour.
At Bury the control of the Victory Ground was transferred from St Edmundsbury Borough Council to the Victory Sports Ground (BSE) Ltd, a company set up by the local sports clubs for the purpose. The aim was to give the users a greater control of the ground and to reduce the cost to the council over a period of years.
The Guildhall had long been unsuitable for its remaining use as a casually let public building. During 2001 it was let on a short term basis to the Theatre Royal Youth Group, as rehearsal rooms and offices.
Base rates were cut to 4% in November, the lowest level for thirty eight years.
The HUMI project of the Keio University of Japan completed its work to digitise the contents of the Bury Bible, which had survived in one volume at the Parker Library in Cambridge. The project had been set up in 2001 at Nowton Court, just outside Bury. | | 2002 | In 2002 the wet weather continued and local flooding almost became normal in the first few months of the year.
On 18th January news came that contractors working on the road at Moreton Hall had punctured a main gas line. Several streets of houses had to be evacuated and people were taken to the Moreton Hall Community Centre. A Bouncy Castle was hired for the children ,food and drink arranged and the normal events of the day at the centre were curtailed. Not until later that night was the all clear reported. Luckily nobody had to stay out overnight, but it had been a massive operation for the borough council to support the crews who had to make safe the area and repair the damage.
The Mildenhall Air Fete, scheduled for May 2002, was cancelled for the second time in four years due to the heightened level of operations since September 11th 2001.
In March the Moyses Hall museum was re-opened following a major refurbishment and extension of the exhibition space into the old shop next door. The Suffolk Regiment's collection was moved here from the Keep in Risbygate Street, and could now be open to the public every day, rather than one half day a week as it had been at the Keep.
On 19th April, to people's astonishment, another gas leak occurred at Moreton Hall, and two streets were evacuated to the Moreton Hall Community Centre once again. This time the leak was quickly fixed and people returned home by the afternoon.
On 10th May the Boer War Memorial was officially re-dedicated by the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk and the Chief of the General Staff. Afterwards, the Lord Lieutenant officially re-opened Moyses Hall Museum, with its display of Suffolk Regimental mementoes.
In May, the St Edmundsbury Borough Council brought in its modernised decision making structure following the Local Government Act of 2000. Decisions could no longer be taken by committees as had been the case for many years. The council now has to appoint an executive or Cabinet, to take decisions, which are then scrutinised by one or more Overview and Scrutiny committees.
At the first meeting under the new constitution, there was a surprise when the leader of the main opposition party was elected to be Leader of the Council. This was done by a coalition of 17 Labour, 2 Liberal Democrats, 2 Independents and 2 Independent Conservatives. Under the new constitution, the Leader then appointed his Cabinet with 6 other members from the coalition. The Conservative Party with 21 seats had no representation except for chairing the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Policy Development Committee.
On JUne 24th, following the tenants ballot in September 2001, all 5,949 council houses with garages and associated land, were transferred to the Havebury Housing Partnership, a Company set up by the council to own and run its houses. The company became a Registered Social Landlord, and was independent of the council, becoming also a Registered Charity. The aim was to raise private finance to bring the houses up to the fullest modern standards, while keeping the expenditure outside the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement.
The council received £45 million, from which it had to pay the set up costs of Havebury of £3 million, and pay a levy to the government of £8 million. The remaining £36 million was divided in half and the council appointed two investment fund managers to invest £18 million each. The proceeds had to be invested to earn interest, to replace the money which had been earned from the old Housing Account. Even so, the council expected its Taxpayers to be worse off by a net £700,000 a year after the transaction. Why then, did it do it? Firstly to allow the use of private finance to bring the houses up to the latest standards. Secondly, because in the fairy tale world of local government finance, a change of policy at Whitehall can radically change council finances. This had occurred in 2001, and if the council had decided to keep its houses, it would have become £1.7 million worse off inside three years. Transfer was thus the "least worse" option.
In June the world's Stock Markets slumped even further, falling back to the similar levels as after September 11th, 2001. Worse followed in July when the FTSE fell again to its lowest level for six years. Also in June inflation fell to a 27 year low of 1.5%, while going in the opposite direction, house prices were at their highest level ever, and had been going up by 5 or more percent per month. This was partly fuelled by the lowest interest rates for 38 years, the base rate having been only 4% since last November.
On July 17th the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Bury. This was the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee, when she travelled widely throughout the country. The day started with a visit to Ipswich, moved on to Stowmarket and arrived in Bury at 12.40 for lunch in the Athenaeum, after an appearance on the balcony with the Mayor. AT 2.40 the party visited a tented area on Angel Hill displaying the Best of Suffolk. The royal party then entered the Abbey Gardens to see a concert by the Suffolk Youth Orchestra, and left via Eastgate Street at about 3.40pm. About 7 or 8 thousand people were estimated to have been on the Angel Hill to see the event.
Consultations with the public continued to be run by the prospective developers, Centros Miller, throughout the summer, about the masterplan for the redevelopment of Bury's former Cattlemarket site.
In October there was a very bad storm which raged throughout the Sunday, resulting in many villages losing power. Places like Rougham had no power for several days. Many trees lost branches, and some were blown down, but the 90 mph winds were not as strong as in 1987. Moyses Hall lost part of the left front gable end, showering the pavement in falling flints and bricks. Tesco's Supermarket had to close for the day as part of the roof was blown off.
Through November and December the St Edmundsbury Council submitted itself as a pilot for the new Comprehensive Performance Assessment system of the Audit Commission. This system was intended to replace The Best Value system, which had proved too costly in terms of Commission resources.
At the end of 2002 the digital television venture of ITV Digital, (formerly called On Digital), collapsed. The service was by subscription, and ITV Digital had out-bid other TV companies for the rights to broadcast top Football matches. The income from subscribers failed to cover the massive costs involved in the football bids, and the company was in financial difficulties. The FA refused to re-negotiate the bids, and so ITV Digital went into receivership. Football in England was severely hit by the loss of income from theses rights, and a string of club failures followed. The rights to the digital channels of ITV Digital were re-assigned to a consortium called Freeview, made up of the BBC, Sky television and Crown Castle. Information about Freeview, and how to receive it, are shown on this website at "Advice line and Service Finder" section. | | 2003 | During March coalition forces led by the United States and Britain invaded Iraq in a search for undeclared weapons of mass destruction. The tankers from Mildenhall were used to support long distance air flights by their in-flight refuelling capabilities.
In Suffolk the Council Tax was increased by around 18% on average leading to considerable public unrest. In Bury St Edmunds the new Bury St Edmunds Town Council was inaugurated with its own brand new Council Tax of £13.95 a year. This had the effect of making Bury's local council tax bills increase by 20% overall. St Edmundsbury itself had "only" levied an increase of 9.9%, but it was outweighed by the Suffolk County Council's 18.8% and the Police Authority's 32%.
In May, the four yearly elections to St Edmundsbury Borough Council took place with 45 councillors instead of the 44 it had had since 1974. Haverhill received one additional councillor. The election resulted in a Conservative majority, sweeping away the Rainbow Coalition which had taken power in May 2002, just a year earlier. This result reflected a national trend attributed to the generally high levels of Council Tax increases averaging 13% across the country, and 18% in Suffolk. However, many Labour voters were also disillusioned by the war in Iraq.
Bury Town Council also came into being on 1st April, but the first elections were in May.
Elections at Haverhill produced a majority for the Haverhill Representative Alliance, but by July, this party disbanded itself.
In the Abbey Gardens a new sensory garden was opened, called the Harold Bonnett Sensory Garden, created from a bequest to help the visually impaired and wheelchair users to enjoy the plantings. This garden had previosly been replanted in 1990.
In 2003 the new Cathedral Tower of St James' in Bury St Edmunds will be nearing completion. | | 2004 | The Mildenhall Air Show was cancelled due to works long scheduled on a runway building project.
In 2004, St Edmundsbury Borough Council is due to host the 3 - yearly celebrations of the Magna Carta Trust.
If the new Cathedral Tower has not already been finished by the end of 2003, then it will become completed in early 2004. The Tower is a Millenium Project and received £5.5 million in grant aid from the Millenium Commission, itself financed from the National Lottery. A further £2.7 million came from the estate of Stephen Dykes - Bower, the architect who undertook the cathedral's extensions during the 1970's. | | 2005 | By 2005 the Government have said that 100% of public services should be available electronically. | | 2006 | In 2006 it is the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Charter of the town of Bury St Edmunds, granted by King James I in 1606. |
Please help to write the story of our St Edmundsbury area in the Twenty First century, and the Third Millenium. If you have spotted any mistakes or notable omissions, why not let us Know? Or if you know the date that your church, school, club or organisation has been built or founded, or has had any important happenings which you feel should be included in this history, please email us. Also let us know of any big events which are coming in the next few years.
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