David Ruffley

MAGISTRATES were last night accused of being too lenient after handing down a one-year driving ban to a teenager whose friend ended up in a coma after 'car surfing' on his bonnet.

The 17-year-old A-level student was arrested for dangerous driving following a disastrous prank on the top floor of the Parkway car park in Bury St Edmunds in June.

The student, who cannot be named, admitted the offence before St Edmundsbury magistrates on Wednesday and was banned from driving for a year, given a six-month referral order and ordered to pay £55 costs.

CAMPAIGNERS last night praised a Suffolk council after it emerged finance chiefs were planning to freeze next year's council tax.

St Edmundsbury Borough Council is the first authority in the county to declare it has planned a 0% rise for 2009.

Last night its leaders and campaign groups urged other councils in the area to try and follow suit.

Although St Edmundsbury's share of the overall council tax accounts for a small part of residents' overall bill, the move was welcomed by Protest Against Council Tax in Suffolk (PACTS).

A children's ballet group has helped to kick-start a fund-raising campaign to improve the St John's Street Centre, in Bury St Edmunds.

STOWMARKET'S job centre which was under threat of closure has received a stay of execution as a Government Minister says it is needed to help cope with the economic downturn.

The service was at risk of being shut, with residents having to travel to Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds, or use the internet.

Now the Department for Work and Pensions says that closure will be suspended, with the minister Tony McNulty saying that the recent downturn in the global economy has sparked a change of heart over the proposal to close job centres.

Defiant residents at Northgate Lodge sheltered housing are vowing to fight on to keep the complex intact, despite concessions from Havebury Housing Partnership.
Elderly and disabled tenants of the scheme, in Long Brackland, Bury St Edmunds, have dismissed moves by the housing association to slow down plans to divide the home, after consultation with residents.

Resident John Pask, 83, said: "This is just a ploy to placate people. We still have a fight on our hands. It is a battle won- but not the war."

A campaign group fighting a proposed waste processing plant in Stanton has enlisted the help of its MP.

A park and ride scheme for Bury St Edmunds could cost £500,000 a year, according to a report discussed on Friday.

Police chiefs' decision to host a gay pride flag over Suffolk stations has been questioned by MPs.

The rainbow flag- celebrating Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) history month- has been raised over stations in Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds, as well as Suffolk County Council offices, in Ipswich.

But Tim Yeo, MP for South Suffolk, said championing a particular cause was not the role people in Suffolk wanted the police to be doing.

An MP is urging St Edmundsbury Borough Council to launch a park and ride scheme for Bury St Edmunds.

The former chairman of the Conservative Party, once tipped as Margaret Thatcher's successor as Prime Minister, is moving to a picturesque Suffolk market town with his disabled wife.

Residents in the Churchgate area of Bury St Edmunds last night said they were looking forward to having Lord and Lady Tebbit as neighbours after it emerged the couple were looking to move into historic Churchgate House, in Churchgate Street.