David Ruffley MP has today congratulated St Edmundsbury Borough Council for Nowton Park consistently being one the top visitor attractions in Suffolk.

David Ruffley's House of Commons question to Shaun Woodward, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Culture Media & Sport, revealed that since 1997 Nowton Park has been one of the top attractions in Suffolk, regularly attracting over 200,000 visitors.

As visitor figures were unavailable for the last two years David Ruffley contacted Paul Farmer, St Edmundsbury Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Arts & Culture, to enquire how the park was performing.

Paul Farmer was pleased to inform David Ruffley that 258,642 people visited Nowton Park in 2005 and that he hoped to see even greater numbers taking advantage of its facilities in the near future.

David said:

'These are some fantastic visitor figures for Nowton Park which make it the top visitor attraction in my constituency and one of the best in the whole of Suffolk.

'Nowton Park consists of almost 200 acres of beautiful Suffolk countryside landscaped over 100 years ago in typical Victorian style. With its fantastic facilities including all-weather pitch, children's play area, football pitches and picnic area it is little wonder people are flocking to visit the park.

'I would like to congratulate St Edmundsbury Borough Council and all the staff involved on this achievement and look forward to hearing more of Nowton Park's success in the future.

'Councillor Farmer informs me that, although they do not have visitor numbers, St Edmundsbury believe the Abbey Gardens may be an even more popular visitor attraction which, from looking at these figures, could make it one of the top tourist attraction in the whole of Suffolk.'

St Edmundsbury Portfolio Holder for Arts & Culture, Cllr Paul Farmer, said:

'I'm delighted that Nowton Park is judged by the Department as being the top visitor attraction in the area. Whilst there are no similar statistics available for it, we believe that the Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds is even more popular with tourists.'