BURY has been dealt a double Millennium whammy by Lottery 'Scrooges'.

A huge international street festival which would have been enjoyed by thousands has been kicked into touch by commissioners.

It follows a previous snub when they denied funding for the historic Woodbury sailing trip to America. Bury now has NO specially-funded Millennium Festival events, while the rest of the country shares £100 million from the various Lottery boards.

To rub salt into the wound, the Millennium Festival IS going to pay for a different sailing ship expedition - an 18th century frigate touring the nation's ports.

Bury's latest cash hopes were part of the county-wide Streets Ahead festival, which would have brought a huge arts extravaganza to the town.

Bury would have shared in the £300,000 bid which was supported by all ten Greater Manchester authorities.

It would have come on top of the town's annual Streets Ahead day, which has seen thousands of residents flock into the town centre in May to enjoy music, theatre and fun. Mr Alan Oatey, director of Bury's Met arts centre, described the latest blow as "very disappointing and frustrating".

"The event has been in the pipeline for the last three or four years," he said. "For the Commission to pull the money out now just doesn't seem to make any sense. But they are not answerable and don't give reasons for not giving money."

He said Bury would still have a street festival on May 1 next year, but not on the scale the town had looked forward to.

Council leader Derek Boden has written to Bury's MPs asking them to persuade culture minister Chris Smith to intervene.

But he admitted that his pleas were "out of duty rather than expectation", adding: "I don't believe there's anything they can do about it. We can complain but it won't alter the decision. It's all down to us now in Bury."

Mr Jeremy Shine, Streets Ahead festival director, was "extremely angry" and blamed bias by "blinking bureaucrats in London".

"It's outrageous - the people of Bury have significantly lost out," he said.

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