David Ruffley

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

Plans to provide a mobile post office in Gislingham will cause 'gross disruption' to residents, an MP has said.

MP David Ruffley has called for a rethink on plans to close the post office at Gislingham. And he has voiced strong opposition in his response to Post Office Ltd to the proposed alternative service that it is looking to provide.

The company is consulting local people on the proposal to park a mobile vehicle in Westview Gardens, Gislingham, for two hours a day from Monday to Friday. This would replace the post office run by Geoff Laurence at the village stores.

Work to rehabilitate persistent young offenders in Suffolk has been criticised by an MP.

Latest Government figures show there are 207 persistent young offenders in the county who committed 407 offences during 2008.

And according to David Ruffley MP this is not good enough and is piling pressure on the police.

More than £35,000 has been spent on repairs and investigations into why the A14 at Rougham has suffered subsidence.

An MP is planning a school visit after he was shocked by the number of children who had fallen victim to mobile phone thefts.

In 2007, 157 children under the age of 15 were victims of mobile phone thefts in Suffolk.

David Ruffley, shadow minister for police reform, said he wanted to raise awareness of the problem.

He will visit St Benedict's Upper School, in Bury St Edmunds , with PC Jim Kidd on February 27 to promote the campaign Protect It, Register It run by Suffolk Constabulary.

Bury St Edmunds MP David Ruffley has gone on the attack after figures showed police are spending less time on the beat and more time on paperwork.

The shadow minister for police reform accused the Government of a 'cover-up' for refusing to publish up-to-date data on the amount of time police spend on patrol.

Dedicated patrol officers spend less than fifth of their shift on the streets, according to official statistics.

Mulleys bus company has launched a new route through the Howard and Mildenhall Road Estates in Bury St Edmunds to Asda and the town centre in response to residents' pleas for a direct service.
Campaigners are celebrating the move as an end to a fight to get operator First Buses to alter the route of its 81 and 82 services to run through the estate along Western Way and Risbygate Street.

Ernie Broom, chairman of the Howard Estate's Over 60s group, said: "This is absolutely fantastic news.

HUNDREDS of jobs at ailing Suffolk building firm Haymills are set to be saved after a takeover deal was agreed with a French construction giant.

Haymills, based in Stowmarket, employs more than 300 people in the county and it is believed that the vast majority will keep their jobs after the company's administrators elect opted to allow Vinci Plc to buy the business.