MP for the Bury St Edmunds Constituency

Trustee 1979-2023. Chair 1990-2010.

Jonathan entered into the commercial property market as a trainee surveyor in 1985 and qualified as a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1991. He spent 12 years working in Norwich before joining George Hazell as a consultant in 1997, joining the partnership in 2001 before then turning the firm into a private company in 2007.

His expertise is in commercial property and residential and commercial development land,  advising clients in respect of their commercial property requirements including buying, selling, valuations, rent reviews, lease renewals and rating advice. He provides landowners with help and advice in respect of development land both commercial and residential and oversees the growth and development of the company as a whole.

He has been on the Board of the Town Trust for over ten years and has been involved with a number of their projects over this period. He is currently the Trust’s Chair.

Aoife is an Architect who has lived and worked in Bury St Edmunds since relocating here in 2007, she has always had an interest in historic buildings. A director of a local practice, BCR Infinity Architects, she takes an interest in all development in and around the area.

Keen on exploring and developing modern methods of construction and promotion of sustainable materials she has experience of implementing these skills when working with listed buildings. Her professional interests and areas of work have led her towards the restoration and enhancement of listed buildings where Aoife has been able work with multi-disciplinary teams to create sensitive alterations and extensions to listed buildings.

Aoife has a broad design experience that extends to a full range of project types and sectors and has been instrumental in driving the design development and managing the delivery of complex education and community schemes through to domestic and refurbishment projects in sensitive historic settings and working environments within programme and budget; whilst ensuring a quality of design and construction.

Paul is the Trust’s acting Treasurer and is a partner in Whiting & Partners, a Bury St Edmunds based regional firm of chartered accountants and business advisors. He is closely involved with many of his firm’s charity and not-for-profit clients and has continued his firm’s long association with the Town Trust over many years.

Margaret was born and lived in Bury for 21 years, returning to Suffolk in 1988 and, since 2002 living in Bury St Edmunds again. 2003 saw her voted in as a Councillor and four years later become Mayor of the Borough of St Edmundsbury.   Always passionately interested in our town she became the Borough’s Magna Carta Trustee in 2007 which led to being on the National 800^th Magna Carta Anniversary Committee plus setting up the local Committee to commemorate in 2014 the part Bury St Edmunds played in the story of the Charter when the Barons of King John visited the great Abbey. A Trustee of the Bury Town Trust since 1990 Margaret is also a member of other committees plus volunteers and enjoys working in the Cathedral Tourist Information Point on Angel Hill, now in its third year.   She hasn’t yet learned what the word ‘retirement’ means!

David is an architect who was born and raised on the family farm in Suffolk. He was with Whitworth, Chartered Architects and Surveyors, in Bury St Edmunds for 28 years, having joined on completion of his studies at Nottingham University and became a member of the RIBA in 2002. During his time with the practice David developed his great interest in historic buildings and worked on the conservation, repair and adaption of many listed domestic buildings and numerous medieval churches across Suffolk.

In 2019 David took up a new position with the National Trust as the Building Surveyor with responsibility for the Ickworth Estate, the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds and the trusts Suffolk and Essex coastal portfolio of properties, including the buildings on the Sutton Hoo, Dunwich Heath and Orford Ness estates.

David has held Building Conservation Accreditation under the AABC scheme since 2007 and is also a member of a number of heritage organisations.

John trained in land management and subsequently in architectural conservation.  After working for a firm of international property consultants, and then in the voluntary sector, he established his own practice specialising in planning cases which included advocacy at public inquiries and before parliamentary select committees.  His work also involved heritage property management for which he wrote the original national guidance.

He is a former special adviser to the House of Commons Environment and Transport Committee, and was member of the Broads Authority where he was vice-chair of its Environment Committee.  He has also been a member of the executive committee and council of The National Trust, and the national planning committee of CPRE.

Alan started working at the Bury St Edmunds Office of BCR Infinity in October 2020, after a career that has so far spanned four decades in architecture and a full involvement in most aspects of architectural endeavour.

Alan’s experience covers many building types and sectors, but he is best known for his work in design for education and his work in the community architecture sector.

After 25 years running his own practice, WPP Architects, Alan set up and led the education team at KLH Architects for five years.  Having worked on education projects since his earliest days in the offices of Johns, Slater & Haward, Alan has been intimately involved in the evolution of modern learning environments.

Alan was the Chairman of the Suffolk Association of Architects for four years; he is one of the RIBA Suffolk delegates to the Suffolk Joint Construction Committee and a representative on the Ipswich Borough Council Conservation and Design Panel.

Alan also teaches on the RIBA Studio/Oxford Brookes Distance Learning course and at the University of Suffolk School of Architecture.

Emmerson Critchley, founder of Emmerson Critchley Ltd, was appointed to Bury Town Trust in 2024 bringing a wealth of carpentry experience and special expertise in listed properties. With a career spanning 25 years, Emmerson’s journey began as a carpenter, where he discovered a passion for period properties and the unique challenges they present.

This passion led to the establishment of Emmerson Critchley Ltd, now renowned as a leading period property specialist in East Anglia. Emmerson’s notable projects in the Bury St Edmunds area include the restoration of Gregg’s on Abbeygate Street, Gregg’s on Cornhill, and a magnificent project on Angel Hill.

Emmerson’s expertise extends beyond restoration, as he is dedicated to preserving the architectural heritage of the region. His work not only restores but revitalises historic buildings, ensuring they remain integral parts of the community. Emmerson is also active in sharing his knowledge on heritage conservation and carpentry techniques.

With a commitment to excellence and a deep respect for history, Emmerson Critchley continues to set the standard for period property restoration and carpentry in East Anglia.

Ron is a retired solicitor and was appointed as a trustee of BTT in 2024, shortly after retiring as a partner with local law firm Ashtons Legal.

Ron’s career began in London in 1982 and he continued to specialise in property and secured lending after moving to Bury and joining what became Ashtons Legal in 2003. His keen interest in architecture and building preservation overlapped with his career throughout that period and he represented clients (and their funders) who were responsible for the acquisition and restoration of historic properties in locations such as Greenwich, Hoxton, Cambridge and more recently Bury itself. A common feature of those projects was imposing covenants to ensure that the buildings would be preserved for the benefit of generations to come. Ron is therefore well placed to advise BTT on such matters.

Ron worked closely with local architects, surveyors and planning consultants prior to his retirement and organised client tours of historic buildings in conjunction with Open House and similar organisations.

He and his wife continue to live near Bury town centre and Ron is also a member of the Bury Society and Bury Abbey Rotary Club.