Bury St Edmunds Town Council sees new clerk with community-focused vision

The latest clerk for Bury St Edmunds Town Council has begun settling into her new role.

Jodie Budd, 47, of Long Melford, has taken over from former clerk Greg Luton who retired last month.

Jodie had previously worked at Sudbury Town Council for 28 years. Starting as an office administrative assistant, Jodie has served in various roles, including as an adviser at the former Sudbury Advice Centre, her most recent role being the deputy town clerk.

She said: “I’m very honoured. This is a natural progression for me. Bury is a lovely town so I’m honoured to be the new town clerk.

“I love the variety that comes with local government. You get new bosses every four years that come in with a different eye. It’s just the variety of work that goes on behind the scenes that members of the public don’t necessarily see.”

During her tenure she hopes to promote the town council further.

“The town council is quite hidden away so we’d like to revamp our website and social media pages and just become a little bit more community-minded,” she added.

“Working with town councillors, I would like to increase the mayoral role a little bit and just reach out more to the community.

“In Sudbury we used to have competitions with local schools like design Christmas cards for the mayor. Council willing, that’s the big thing – to become more community involved.

“It’s quite a blank canvas at the moment.”

She would also like to write a business plan that she and the councillors could refer back to.

On the future of the town she said: “With Bury now getting Primark it’s going to be the town centre that’s got everything.

“It’s just going to grow and grow whereas places like Colchester and Ipswich that have taken some of the big department stores out of town, there’s not such an appeal as maybe there will be to come here.

“I hope it’s going to thrive, which I think it will.”