David Ruffley

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.

A flooding problem which has blighted Beyton since the 1970s could finally be resolved.
Villagers face impassable two-foot deep floods in Thurston Road every time there is heavy rain.

"There were people down here that couldn't get to work for three days when it flooded earlier this year. You have children that can't get to school. It is quite serious," said Mid Suffolk district councillor Rod Scott.

He has lived in Thurston Road since 1949, when he was three years old.

Plans to axe a village post office and replace it with an outreach van on a busy road have been condemned as 'an accident waiting to happen'.
David Ruffley, MP for Stowmarket, has criticised Post Office Ltd's decision to site a mobile outreach service in Broadfields Road, Gislingham.

He said the road, which leads to Gislingham Primary School, already suffered from congestion and the van would create further traffic and safety issues for pedestrians.

EXCITEMENT is building on the streets of a Suffolk town for the visit of the Queen to take part in an historic ceremony dating back to the 12th century.

Bury St Edmunds will today come to a standstill as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit the county for the traditional Maundy Money service.

Thousands of people are expected to descend on the market town while 168 fortunate men and women will actually receive the traditional gift from Her Majesty during a ceremony in St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

Emergency repair work to underpin the A14 at Rougham, which had subsided after a £12 million project to improve the Rookery Crossroads, will start at the end of the month.
After investigations, the Highways Agency found cavities in a drainage crossing trench, 3m below the road, which they intend to fill with grout as a temporary fix while investigations into a permanent solution continue.

Officers hope the grout will stabilise the road, which suffered repeated subsidence after the completion of the Rookery Crossroads scheme in 2006.

A LONG-standing problem on one of Suffolk's busiest carriageways could soon be a thing of the past as traffic chiefs prepare remedial work.

Though admitting the work on the A14 was only a temporary solution, the Highways Agency last night revealed that permanent plans to solve problems with subsidence on the road were taking shape.

Community leaders welcomed the news after eight months of concerns about road safety following the multi-million pound improvements to the former Rookery Crossroads at Rougham, near Bury St Edmunds