David Ruffley

TWO of the region's Conservative MPs have joined the Internet age with a bang - they have launched their own independent online television channels.

Richard Spring, MP for West Suffolk, and Bury St Edmunds MP David Ruffley have joined the Youtube craze, which allows people to make broadcasts which then can be watched on computers and laptops.

Bury St Edmunds MP David Ruffley has podcasts to download on his website, which has been completely re-vamped to attract the growing army of Internet users.

PARENTS fighting plans for a radical shake-up of Suffolk's education system have been urged not to give up hope after plans for similar changes in another county were scrapped at the eleventh hour.

All 40 of Suffolk's middle schools face the axe over the county council's controversial proposal to do away with the current three-tier structure.

The suggestion sparked fury amongst teachers and parents throughout the county amid fears such a dramatic alteration would have a severe impact on children.

A SUFFOLK MP has criticised Government plans to increase the amount of new houses to be built in the county by more than 3,000.

David Ruffley, MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, claimed the changes were 'crazy' because they did not consider the impact the extra homes may have on the county's resources.

Draft plans originally put forward by the East of England Regional Assembly suggested the eastern region needed 478,000 homes by 2021.

Nearly a quarter of a million pounds has so far been spent on a study which called for Suffolk's 40 middle schools to be scrapped.

Suffolk County Council said the cost of its School Organisation Review - which recommends abolishing all middle schools and imposing a single two-tier education system across the county - currently stands at £240,000.

This figure - which is expected to grow as the review gathers pace next year - includes the cost of expert research, printing documents and staff time spent on the project.

The accident and emergency department at West Suffolk Hospital is 'extremely unlikely' to close, the Strategic Health Authority has said this week.

But MP David Ruffley said the authority had still not given the reassurances needed by thousands of staff and patients at the Bury St Edmunds hospital.

A report by the East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) revealed annual attendance figures for the hospital's A&E met minimum guidelines.

Town MP David Ruffley is calling for a summit meeting with the borough council over the future of Bury St Edmunds' independent shops.

Mr Ruffley, MP for Bury and Stowmarket said he was 'disturbed' by what he was told by shop owners and traders as he walked around the town on Wednesday.

He is now calling for better collaboration between St Edmundsbury Borough Council and shop owners and market traders.

Tory leader David Cameron has paid a visit to West Suffolk Hospital and spoken out against cuts to the health service- although he said he could not promise to wipe out the hospital's debt.
Mr Cameron was accompanied by David Ruffley, MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, who is campaigning to keep all departments of the hospital open.

Mr Cameron said people in the east were being hit hardest by the financial crisis in the NHS.

Health bosses may have to develop the powers of escapologist Harry Houdini to help to pay off Suffolk's health care debt, a concerned MP has claimed.

The Suffolk Primary Care Trust (PCT), Bury St Edmunds' West Suffolk Hospital and Ipswich Hospital are £57 million in debt and the Government says they must claw back the money by March 2008.

Last Friday, a group of Suffolk MPs met Carole Taylor-Brown, chief executive of the PCT, to see how savings could be made and if the Government could be lobbied to extend the amount of time allowed to pay off the debt.

POLICE insisted last night there was 'no evidence' to suggest booze-fuelled crime had risen since the introduction of extended drinking hours a year ago today.

The comment came after a Suffolk MP expressed concern that the controversial licensing laws were having a 'devastating' effect on the rate of alcohol-related disorder.

The new laws came into force at midnight a year ago and gave premises up and down the country the right to apply to their local authority to sell alcohol for longer - and in some cases around the clock.

A RURAL watchdog last night warned building 500,000 new homes in the East of England will place huge pressure on the environment and 'carve up the countryside'.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has collected more than 1,200 signatures on a petition against the plans.

And a further 800 people have written messages to Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), opposing the move.