Millennium Commission
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The Millennium Commission in the United Kingdom was set up to celebrate the turn of the Millennium and aid communities at the end of the 2nd millennium and the start of the 3rd millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery.
The Commission was originally set up in 1993 through the UK government the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. It was an independent non-departmental public body. Commissioners were appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister: the Chair of the Commission was, for most of its life, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and for most of its life a second cabinet Minister was also a Commissioner. During Tessa Jowell's tenure as Chair the second Minister was Richard Caborn.
Income from the National Lottery ceased in August 2001, but distribution of project grant funding continued until the Commission was abolished on 30 November 2006. At this point all its remaining funds and its responsibilities were taken over by the Big Lottery Fund. Over £2 billion was given to fund buildings, environmental projects, celebrations and community schemes.
The Millennium Commission ceased to exist on 1 December 2006.[1]
Examples of projects funded
- Black Country Urban Forest
- Centre for Life
- Eden Project, Cornwall
- Falkirk Wheel
- Glasgow Science Centre
- INTECH
- Magna Science Adventure Centre
- Millennium Bridge (London)
- Millennium Dome
- Millennium Greens
- Millennium Seed Bank Project
- Millennium Stadium
- Five Millennium piers for London River Services
- National Centre for Popular Music
- National Space Centre
- Odyssey Centre
- Our Dynamic Earth
- ReDiscover
- Spinnaker Tower
- The Deep
Commissioners
There were initially nine commissioners – two ministers, one appointed by the opposition, and six independents. The number of commissioners was reduced to five as the work of the commission decreased. The final members were:
- Richard Caborn (Chair), Minister for Sport
- Floella Benjamin, actress and author
- Heather Couper, broadcaster and writer on space
- Judith Donovan, health and safety commissioner
- Michael Heseltine, former Conservative cabinet minister
Previous commissioners
- Virginia Bottomley
- Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville
- Lord Clark of Windermere
- Jack Cunningham
- Matthew d'Ancona
- Richard Scott, Earl of Dalkeith
- Stephen Dorrell
- Sir John Hall
- Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran
- Sir Simon Jenkins
- Tessa Jowell
- Lord Montague of Oxford
- Mo Mowlam
- Barbara Roche
- Baroness Scotland of Asthal
- Baron Smith of Finsbury
References
- ^ The National Lottery Act 2006, section 16(1)(b); the National Lottery Distributors Dissolution Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2915), articles 1(2) and 2 (as read with article 1(1) of the Big Lottery Fund (Prescribed Expenditure) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/3202))