David Ruffley has today released a letter he has received from Rosie Winterton MP, the Department for Transport Minister responsible for the B1115 Stowmarket Relief Road scheme. The Minister's letter is in response to David's letter last month to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Transport, in which he expressed his concern about delays in getting Government approval for the construction of the Stowmarket Relief Road. For example, the Department for Transport took five months to consider the Inspector's report following the short Public Inquiry last year.

David's letter to the Secretary of State followed numerous enquiries from his Stowmarket constituents who are fed up with traffic congestion in Stowmarket at peak times, especially at the rail crossing.

Suffolk County Council had hoped to start construction in the summer but this was then put back to mid-November at the earliest.

The full text of the Minister's letter is attached.

David said:

'I fully support the Stowmarket Relief Road scheme so I am pleased to see that Whitehall officials have, at last, taken action to speed up the approval process by allowing the scheme to move directly to Full Approval rather than the more long-winded approach of going through Conditional Approval first. This is the least they could do after sitting on the Public Inquiry report for five months last year.

'My constituents in Stowmarket have waited long enough for this road to be built so I do not want to see any more delays at this late stage. I will continue to keep a close eye on the timetable for the Stowmarket Relief Road and will intervene again at ministerial level if further delays occur.'