Several influential groups that work to protect the heritage of a west Suffolk town have joined up to fight against council plans to close the record office.
Suffolk County Council is set to cut its £500,000 funding investment in the arts and culture sector and close its record office in Bury St Edmunds, while putting tax bills up by a maximum of 5%, this spring.
The county's records are to be concentrated on The Hold in Ipswich, but the proposed closure has caused dismay in the town.
On January 23, around 60 representatives from the Bury Society, the Bury St Edmunds Town Trust and other organisations, including archaeologists and historians, as well as town residents met at Bury St Edmunds Guildhall to discuss the proposal.
Protest group outside the records office earlier this month (Image: Bury St Edmunds Society CIO)
Martyn Taylor, chair of the Bury Society, said: "We had an interesting discussion relating to the closure of Bury Archives, the records office in Bury, and the proposals to send the archives to The Hold in Ipswich.
"There were some good opinions put forward as to what we should be doing and what should be done.
"It came straight out of the blue on January 2 this year - it has only been three weeks since the bomb was dropped.
"One speaker did say that the archives in Bury St Edmunds don't only represent Bury St Edmunds they represent the whole of West Suffolk.
"They are of great importance and it is important to be able to share them from West Suffolk," he added.
Mr Taylor, as well as Terry O'Donoghue of the Bury Society and John Popham of Bury Town Trust, spoke during the meeting.
Martyn Taylor, chair of the Bury Society (Image: Bury Society CIO)
Mr Taylor said they voted and agreed unanimously on a submission to Suffolk County Council recommending a working party should be created with representatives from SCC, West Suffolk council, Bury St Edmunds Town Council, Bury Town Trust and Bury Society.
The submission recommended the retention and upgrading of the existing premises, or to find another location in the town.
It also stated the investigation should include determining whether contributions towards the cost of the project may be "available from other sources".
They asked that the archives remain open until the working party has reached a conclusion.
The submission will now be presented for discussion by Suffolk County Council.
Earlier this month, Diane Hind, who represents Tollgate on West Suffolk Council, said of the plans to move the archives: "I believe this is a deeply retrograde step, and unnecessary.
"West Suffolk Council has done everything it can to work with SCC to find suitable new premises for the archive, and we continue to be willing to do so.
"Their decision is purely down to a misguided attempt to save a small amount of money in the short term. It is short sighted and damaging to the heritage of our historic town."
A Suffolk County Council spokesman said the council is facing the most challenging budget-setting process in many years, with inflation putting significant pressure on services like SEND, school transport and children in care.
The spokesman said £140,000 of savings will be achieved by centralising Suffolk Archives to The Hold and closing the branches in west and east Suffolk.
Cllr Bobby Bennett (Image: Suffolk County Council)
Cllr Bobby Bennett, cabinet member for Equality and Communities, said: “The current West Suffolk Archives branch in Bury St Edmunds requires significant investment of more than £5m to meet modern archive standards.
"This includes meeting the requirements for safely preserving historic collections. The building is also constrained by its listed status, poor layout and poor disabled access.
“The council is facing the most challenging budget setting process it has seen in many years.
"Like many councils, in order to prioritise our spending on supporting the most vulnerable, we are having to make difficult decisions about the services we deliver and how we deliver them.
“When the Western Way development was cancelled, we had no choice but to reconsider the way Archive services are delivered in Suffolk.
“Any alternative solution would need to be deliverable to the same, or lower, budget and to the same time scale as the original Western Way proposals, as every extra week in Raingate Street costs more money and brings more risk.
"Any option would need to be fully costed and would need to meet the specific requirements for the storage of archival material, with timescales clearly mapped by 15th February. At that point the window closes, as we need budgetary certainty."
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