The Big Stories of 2006 from the Bury St Edmunds area: Pettit’s Tea Hut, Asda hopes, middle schools under threat and SnOasis plans
And so our monthly look back through the archives of the Bury Free Press reaches 2006.
In global news, it was the year the World Cup was held in Germany and won by Italy, Twitter was launched, Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein was executed and in London a whale swam in the Thames.
At the cinemas, Daniel Craig made his debut as James Bond in Casino Royale, while the Da Vinci Code and The Devil Wears Prada were also entertaining audiences.
And what were we listening to in 2006? Well, Take That made a successful comeback with their single Patience, Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie was the third top-selling UK single of the year, while Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy took the top spot (and Leona Lewis came in at number two with A Moment Like This).
Closer to home, these were some of the Big Stories of 2006 making headlines in the Bury Free Press:
A well, cesspits, bones, bottles and a pig’s jawbone were among the discoveries unearthed during the £5.1 million restoration of the Theatre Royal.
Giles Washbourne, of construction firm Haymills, said: “It is great to work with an old building and make it alive.”
The project was set to be completed in 2007.
The father of murdered Julie Ward spoke of his determination to force a fresh investigation into his daughter’s death in Kenya in 1988.
John Ward said: “We have got a murder inquiry that is very solvable, but has been held up because new information has been blocked.”
Concerns were raised about the planned regeneration of the Tayfen Road area, with 65 homes, a 1,500sqm foodstore, 7,500sqm retail warehouse and 500sqm tyre and exhaust centre in the pipeline.
Cllr David Nettleton said: “I am very concerned about traffic congestion. Tayfen Road is a very narrow road. It is just the wrong place to put it.”
Suffolk County Council announced it was consdering a review of middle schools which could see the west of the county swtiching to the two-tier system.
Cllr Patricia O’Brien said: “This is huge. It is not something we can make a snap decision on because the lives of children are affected by this.”
Parliament voted for a total ban on smoking in public – a move welcomed by many in west Suffolk.
However, West Suffolk MP Richard Spring and Bury MP David Ruffley both voted against the ban.
Mr Spring said: “Smoking is not illegal. This is intrusion which is a step too far.”
A railway station for Moreton Hall was one of the schemes being driven by Suffolk County Council.
The station would be built on land owned by Taylor Woodrow and could help to ease traffic pressures in Mount Road.
Mid Suffolk District Council’s planning department was labelled ‘poor’ and criticised by government inspectors.
An Audit Commission report criticised the council for making three specialist planners redundant – affecting planning applications involving listed buildings – weak planning enforcement, failing to deliver value for money, basing policies on old research and cutting free pre-application discussions.
Work on dualling the A11 between Barton Mills and Thetford was unlikely to start before 2011, a report claimed.
The Regional Partnership Group also said the cost of the project had soared to £101 million.
Abbeygate Cinema legend Pat Church celebrated 40 years at the Hatter Street cinema.
He said: I have always enjoyed coming to work and 40 years have gone so quickly.”
Bury Town Council launched a bid to save the Manor House, on Honey Hill, to develop a youth drop-in centre and lifelong learning zone.
A decision to close the museum was taken by St Edmundsbury Borough Council in 2005.
Plans were announced for a new supermarket, 84 homes and a multi-storey car park on the site of the Roys of Wroxham Store, in Risbygate Street.
Town councillor Paul Hopfensperger said: “This surprise news has hit me like a hammer.”
Brian Godfrey, managing director of Roys, said: “The store is quite depressing and we would like to see it redeveloped.”
Scaffolding surrounding the historic West Front was removed after more than two years in situ.
The West Front – in the precincts of St Edmundsbury Cathedral – was being converted into five homes.
Greene King’s new £8 million bottling plant, in Kempson Way, opened, producing 25,000 bottles of beer an hour.
Bury St Edmunds Leisure Centre reopened, nearly two years after its pool closed and there was then a major fire at the site.
The Beetons Way complex had undergone a £7 million programme of repairs and refurbishment.
The man at Del Monte said ‘no’ as the firm’s Methwold factory was singled out for closure, putting 250 jobs under threat.
And the Grampian plant in Elmswell was also earmarked for closure, putting 380 workers out of a job.
Meanwhile, staff at the Manor House Museum said goodbye to the building and their jobs, as it closed for good.
One gallery assistant said: “We are heartbroken.”
A lorry got wedged under the Orttewell Road railway bridge, in Bury, closing the road for seven hours.
Anger greeted the announcement of higher car parking costs in Bury, with prices increasing by up to 25 per cent.
Traders feared the move could deter people from visiting the town.
West Suffolk Hospital was rated as ‘weak’ by the Healthcare Commission, despite patient praise for cleanliness and waiting times.
Marion Fairman-Smith, of the Patient Public Involvement Forum, said: “I thought it was a fair report.”
The major SnOasis development was progressing as councillors agreed an outline plan for the £320 million scheme at the former Great Blakenham cement works.
Mid Suffolk District Council’s decision was set to be considered by the Government Office for the East of England.
SnOasis would accommodate 3,600 people and offer 14 winter sports, gyms, restaurants, casinos, golf, nightclubs, cinemas and parking for 2,700 cars.
It emerged the Cattle Market development might only have a shelf-life of 20 to 30 years before needing a facelift.
Work on the project was scheduled to start in October 2006 and be completed in 2008.
Plans for a relief road close to a wartime air control tower were given the go-ahead.
Graham Crabtree, of Rougham Tower Association, said: “I suppose we will have to get used to the sight and sound of the white van man tearing past our front door.”
The blue metal and glass bus shelter which had stood in St Andrew’s Street South for years was put up for sale on eBay as St Edmundsbury Borough Council decided it was surplus to requirements ahead of the Cattle Market development.
The shelter originally cost £30,000 to buy and install.
Pickled onion taster Stephen Ward made the national news after he appeared in a newspaper feature about unusual jobs.
Stephen spent 10 hours a day tasting Branston pickled onions at the Premier Foods plant, in Mildenhall Road.
Headteachers spoke out after a review recommended scrapping middle schools to save Suffolk County Council an estimated £4 million a year.
Andy Nicholson, heateacher at Beyton Middle School, said: “We are talking about it taking 15 years for this to be all sorted out. It’s going to affect teacher morale tremendously.”
A picnic site at Haughley, just off the A14, was closed after reports it was being used for sexual activity.
Rangers witnessed people engaged in activities, despite attempts to clean up the site after it was advertised on adult websites as a location for exhibitionist lewd acts.
Tears and teacakes marked the end of an era as Pettit’s Tea Hut, on the Cattle Market, served its last cuppa after 73 years in business.
Regulars flocked to say goodbye ahead of the hut being demolished to make way for the Cattle Market shopping centre development.
More than 40 Bury residents and Asda officials met at the site of the former Co-op supermarket in Western Way to register their support for a new branch of the retailer in the town.
A spokesman for St Edmundsbury Borough Council confirmed it was in talks with Asda and expected to receive outline plans for the supermarket soon.
Developer Bellway Homes was preparing to resubmit plans for 800 homes at Westley.
Just a month earlier, the planning inspector had ruled the greenfield site should not be developed.
It was understood the proposals would include a Westley relief road, park and ride scheme, business park and country park.
Official figures revealed the Moreton Hall estate, in Bury, had the longest life expectancy in the UK, with residents expecting to live until the age of 93.4.
The Rev Jonathan Ford, of Christ Church, put it down to residents getting a good night’s sleep due to the lack of nightclubs and late night bars.
And finally, an eagle owl named Maggie was being used by the Suffolk Hunt to get around the law banning hunting with dogs.
The hunt said it was planning to use an exemption in the law to continue fox hunting, with the owl making the kill instead of dogs.
