The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebrating the start of the third. The body was wound up in 2006.

Composition

Set up in 1993 by the National Lottery etc. Act 1993, the Commission was an independent

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of n ...

. Commissioners were appointed by the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

on the advice of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

; 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 government minister was also a Commissioner. During Tessa Jowell's tenure as Chair the second Minister was

Richard Caborn Richard George Caborn (born 6 October 1943) is a British politician who served as Minister of Sport from 2001 to 2007 and later as the prime minister's ambassador for England's 2018 FIFA World Cup bid. He previously served as a junior minister ...

, as Minister for Sport, who preceded Jowell in the department by one day, and who left the department contemporaneously (when

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

became Prime Minister).

Closure

The Commission was wound up in December 2006 and its role was transferred to the Big Lottery Fund.

Examples of projects funded

The Commission invested over £2 billion in buildings, environmental projects, celebrations and community schemes. Funded projects include: *

Black Country Urban Forest The Black Country Urban Forest (BCUF) is a project to make urban forestry the characteristic landscape of one of England's industrial areas, The Black Country. It is not a forest in the modern sense of a large area of managed woodland. It is clo ...

Centre for Life The Centre for Life is a science village in Newcastle upon Tyne where scientists, clinicians, educationalists and business people work to promote the advancement of the life sciences. The centre is a registered charity, governed by a board of ...

, Newcastle upon Tyne *

Dundee Science Centre Dundee Science Centre (formerly known as Sensation) is a science centre located in Dundee, Scotland, and a part of the Scottish Science Centres Network. It is a registered charity under Scottish law. It is funded by the public and donations from ...

Eden Project The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS E ...

, Cornwall * Falkirk Wheel *

Glasgow Science Centre Glasgow Science Centre is a visitor attraction located in the Clyde Waterfront Regeneration area on the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Queen Elizabeth II opened Glasgow Science Centre on 5 July 2001. It is one of Scotland's m ...

* Winchester Science Centre (formerly INTECH) * Five Millennium piers for

London River Services London River Services Limited is a division of Transport for London (TfL), which manages passenger transport—leisure-oriented tourist services and commuter services—on the River Thames in London. It does not own or operate any boats itself ...

Magna Science Adventure Centre Magna Science Adventure Centre is an educational visitor attraction, appealing primarily to children, located in Rotherham's former Templeborough steelworks. Location The site used to be home to the Steel, Peech and Tozer steel works (also ...

, Rotherham *

Millennium Bridge Several bridges are known as the Millennium Bridge: * in the United Kingdom **Gateshead Millennium Bridge ** Lune Millennium Bridge, Lancaster ** Millennium Bridge, Glasgow ** Millennium Bridge, London ** Millennium Bridge (Salford Quays) ** Teesqua ...

, London *

Millennium Dome The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...

, London * The

Millennium Forest for Scotland The Millennium Forest for Scotland project was an initiative created by the Millennium Commission and funded by the National Lottery of the United Kingdom to celebrate the turn of the New Millennium. Conceived in 1994, the project's ambition was ...

project *

Millennium Green Millennium Greens are areas of green space for the benefit of local communities. 245 were created in cities, towns and villages across England to celebrate the turn of the Millennium. Their creation was funded in part by the National Lottery via ...

s in cities, towns and villages * Millennium Point, Birmingham *

Millennium Seed Bank Project The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP or MSB), formerly known as the Millennium Seed Bank Project, is the largest ''ex situ'' plant conservation programme in the world coordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. After being awarded a Mi ...

, West Sussex *

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

, Cardiff *

National Centre for Popular Music The National Centre for Popular Music was a museum in Sheffield, England, for pop and rock music and contemporary culture generally, a £15 million project largely funded with contributions from the National Lottery, which opened on 1 Mar ...

, Sheffield (closed in 2000) *

National Space Centre The National Space Centre is a museum and educational resource covering the fields of space science and astronomy, along with a space research programme in partnership with the University of Leicester. It is located on the north side of the city ...

, Leicester * Odyssey Centre, Belfast * Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh * ReDiscover, Newcastle upon Tyne (joint venture with the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

and the Wolfson Foundation) * Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth *

Sheffield Winter Garden Sheffield Winter Garden is a large temperate glasshouse located in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire. It is one of the largest temperate glasshouses to be built in the UK during the last hundred years, and the largest urban glasshous ...

* The Deep, Hull *

Wales Millennium Centre Wales Millennium Centre ( cy, Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 an ...

, Cardiff * A number of village halls and community meeting places

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: *

(Chair),

Minister for Sport A Ministry of Sports or Ministry of Youth and Sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. The Ministry of Youth and Spo ...

* 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 Peter Leonard Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, (born 3 March 1934) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and was a Member of Parl ...

Lord Clark of Windermere David George Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere PC DL (born 19 October 1939) is a British Labour Party politician, former cabinet minister and author. Education and early career Clark was born in Castle Douglas, Scotland. He attended Bowness ...

* Jack Cunningham * Matthew d'Ancona * Richard Scott, Earl of Dalkeith * Stephen Dorrell * Sir John Hall *

Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran Major Thomas "Robin" Valerian Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran, (born 21 April 1935), is a former British bobsledder and Northern Irish politician, known as Robin Dixon. He is a former Conservative Party Shadow Minister for the Olympics. Early life ...

Sir Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

* Tessa Jowell * Lord Montague of Oxford * Mo Mowlam * Barbara Roche *

Baroness Scotland of Asthal Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, (born 19 August 1955), is a British diplomat, barrister and politician, serving as the sixth secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations. She was elected at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads ...

* Baron Smith of Finsbury

References

{{Reflist

External links

Millennium Commission website (archived)
Organizations established in 1993 Organizations disestablished in 2006 Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom Turn of the third millennium