David Ruffley

David Ruffley MP attended coffee mornings in Bury St Edmunds on Friday, 25 September as part of Macmillan Cancer Support's 'World Biggest Coffee Morning'- their biggest annual fundraising event.

David went to the following coffee mornings:

1st Bury Scouts, Tollgate Lane

Wibbling Wools, 24b Angel Hill

Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate Street

Guildhall Feoffment Trust, College Square

Hanover Housing Association, Hanover Close

Last year in Suffolk alone the event raised a staggering £92,000!

David Ruffley MP has written to the Environment Agency and Anglian Water demanding urgent action to rid his Bury St Edmunds constituents of the disgusting smell coming from the River Lark near Eastgate Street.

One suggested cause of the smell is water trapped behind the weir near Eastgate Street which has no sluice to release the water and improve the flow.

Another possible cause is a soiled water pipe at a nearby property that has been connected to the surface water drain which flows into the River Lark.

Continuing his series of visits to local businesses, David Ruffley MP will be visiting 2 Sisters Food Group at their Haughley Park site on Friday, 25 September to see how local business fares in recession. This follows David's recent visits to Baker Construction in Bury St Edmunds and Barrastone Computing in Stowmarket.

David Ruffley MP will visit Stowhealth in Violet Hill Road, Stowmarket on Friday, 9 October to continue his series of meetings with local general practitioners and their associated practice staff.

Stowhealth is a large general practice surgery covering an area from Haughley Green to the north and Moats Tye to the South of Stowmarket. Ten doctors practice at Stowhealth and they are supported by a nursing team and community care practitioners. Stowhealth offers a wide range of primary care services and has an on site dispensary.

David Ruffley MP will be at Bury St Edmunds Library in Sergeants Walk on Friday 9 October to support National Bookstart Day. David has been invited to read to the children during the session.

David will also drop in to the National Bookstart Day event at Stowmarket Library in Milton Road.

National Bookstart Day celebrates Bookstart, the national programme run by the charity, Booktrust, which gives a gift of free books to all babies, toddlers and pre-school children in the U.K.

David Ruffley MP will be a guest at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds at the event they are hosting on Thursday, 8 October for students and teachers from their Chinese partner school, Yangjing-Juyan Experimental School in Shanghai, and representatives of Huawei, a large Chinese multinational telecoms company, which has sponsored the visit.

This week King Edward VI School has welcomed students and staff from their partner school in Shanghai- part of their long-term commitment to global citizenship.

David Ruffley MP has today welcomed reports that St Edmundsbury Borough Council is exploring the compulsory purchase of the Lawson's building off Market Thoroughfare in Bury St Edmunds.

The Lawson's building is a key part of the area of buildings required to deliver the wider link between the Arc development and the existing town centre.

David said:

David Ruffley MP will visit Baker Construction on Friday, 18 September to discuss the provision of public sector housing and then go on a site visit to Out Westgate, Bury St Edmunds where Baker Construction is building homes for Havebury Housing Partnership.

David Ruffley will meet Robert Baker whose grandfather set up the business over fifty years ago. Baker Construction now employs over 80 people. Their current workload comprises public sector housing and work for various parts of the National Health Service. They also specialise in listed buildings.

David Ruffley MP will attend the open day at Stowmarket Corn Exchange, Church Walk, at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday, 19 September when plans for the proposed new Stowmarket Creativity Centre will be exhibited.

David has pledged his support for the proposal to convert the old Stowmarket Corn Exchange in Church Walk into a Creativity Centre.

VIOLENT crime is costing households more than £1,100 a year, a study has shown.

The total burden - £25.6billion last year - has more than doubled under Labour, the report by the Tories said.

The sum was calculated by adding up the cost of violent offences to the police, the courts, the NHS and victims' services. It also included the expense of security and insurance administration and the effects of victims' taking time off work to recover.

The report calculated that each violent incident costs £11,848.