Releasing a copy of an angry letter to the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, David Ruffley said:

'I am absolutely furious at this decision to put this vital safety scheme on hold and maybe dumping it altogether. Only a small number of projects- around ten- have been put on a Government hit list for cancellation and I want to know why.

I suspect it is more discrimination against shire counties like Suffolk. It is totally unacceptable for the Government to cut A road budgets claiming they will put the money into railways. The A14 is one of the most important A roads in the country and the Rookery Crossroads a notorious accident black spot. I don't know why Rookery Crossroads has been picked on by the Government but I will get to the bottom of it.

I am seeking a meeting with the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency and I will be raising this with the Roads Minister when Parliament resumes. My message will be simple; without the safety work at Rookery Crossroads people will die.'

Text of letter to Archie Robertson, Chief Executive of the Highways Agency:

I was absolutely outraged to see a report in the local press of 5 April that improvement works on the Rookery Crossroads section of the A14 at Rougham has now been put on hold.

This vital safety work at the crossroads has been campaigned for since at least 1979. Over the last six years at least eighteen people have been seriously injured or killed at this black spot. Recent surveys show that the number of people killed or seriously injured at this section of the A14 between Bury St Edmunds and Beyton is 10% higher than the national average.

One of your spokesmen has said: 'The scheme is dependent on the outcome of the spending review being carried out by the Treasury. …. The work was listed in our business plans issued last week and we expect tenders to go out in the not so distant future and we hope the scheme will still go ahead.'

I am also told that this scheme is one of ten nationwide that could be postponed on the grounds that the Government may need to divert cash to improve the railway network.

This is utterly unacceptable. I therefore require an urgent response from you on the following questions:

1. What detailed criteria did you use when looking at all your national projects to come to the conclusion that the Rookery Crossroads might be dropped? Why this vital safety project rather than others in East Anglia?

2. The Government appears to be diverting money to the railway network at the expense of your Highways Agency budget. What percentage cuts in your budget are you facing that have led you to reconsider the A14 Rookery Crossroads scheme?

3. Your spokesman talks about tenders going out 'in the not so distant future'. This is deeply unhelpful. Please provide me with a timescale as to when definitive decisions will be made.

4. I require a personal meeting with you to discuss this shocking change of policy which will be to the detriment of the interests- and the lives- of road users in my part of Suffolk.

I wish to emphasise the extreme anger and dismay that this decision has caused. As I will be raising this with the Roads Minister when the House resumes, I require an extremely rapid response from you.