Bury St Edmunds groups meet and launch submission to fight West Suffolk Archives closure ahead of proposed move to Ipswich

by Cameron Reid, Suffolk News online

cameron.reid@iliffepublishing.co.uk
Published: 14:26, 24 January 2024

Campaigners gathered yesterday to demand a delay on a decision to close the West Suffolk Archives branch, in Bury St Edmunds.
Sixty people who attended an invitation-only meeting arranged by the Bury Society unanimously voted on calling for a working party.
They want to find the best way to retain the archives facility, which Suffolk County Council (SCC) wants to move to Ipswich as part of budget cuts. A final decision by the county council is due on February 15.

A Bury Society submission to SCC, backed by a petition of 59 signatures from the meeting, would see representatives of West Suffolk Council, Bury St Edmunds Town Council, and interested parties including the Bury Town Trust and Bury Society, aiming to work together to consider alternative options. They say the archives must remain in the town until the working party is established, with the submission recommending the retention and upgrading of the existing premises, or finding another location in the town.

Sixty people attended the meeting at the Guildhall in Bury St Edmunds and unanimously voted on calling for a working party.
John Popham, trustee of the Bury Town Trust, said at the meeting: “The reason why we drafted the submission is because we know this is difficult, it’s not something we can do in a few days and we have moved as quickly as we can. What we ask is both authorities to get together and examine the alternatives and the possibility of an area of West Suffolk House to be used for storage, subject to security and environmental conditions and so on. There may not be enough room, we do not know what the costs are, everything at this point is unknown.”

Terry O’Donoghue, vice-chair and secretary of the Bury Society, spoke on the ’emotive subject’ of the proposed archives closure.
“The only sensible way forward is for the two principal parties here, plus the Bury organisations, to get together and examine this. That will need, if it’s to be done properly, a deferment on the part of SCC to deal with this and put it temporarily on hold. This is the only way forward that is going to reach a sensible solution for everyone while taking into account all the relevant factors.”

SCC has announced plans to centralise the service, based in Raingate Street, and move it to The Hold, in Ipswich, in a bid to save £140,000.
Martyn Taylor led yesterday’s meeting about Suffolk County Council’s proposed move of the West Suffolk Archives in Raingate Street.
The meeting at the Guildhall, led by Martyn Taylor, chair of the Bury Society, was attended by influential members from disciplines including history, archiving, archaeology and education.

Suffolk county councillor Robert Everitt said: “It’s wonderful to hear the passion that’s here and I’ve been supporting the archives being in Bury back when SCC started talking about it many years ago, so you have an ally.” Cllr Everitt said the issue regarding the moving of the archives was caused by the WSC decision not to build the hub at Western Way. SCC had planned to spend £3.5 million moving the archives to the new development.