David Ruffley MP has today released details of the responses he has received so far to his online survey looking into shopping habits in Bury St Edmunds.

The responses so far are as follows:

• 58percent of Bury St Edmunds residents said their shopping visits to the town had decreased over the last 12 months

• 61percent of these gave parking problems as the reason

• The remaining 39 gave reasons including difficulty getting into the town centre, the cost of petrol and the economy generally.

• 33percent of respondents from villages said their shopping visits to Bury St Edmunds had decreased over the last 12 months

• 91percent of these gave parking problems as the reason

• The remaining 9percent gave reasons including the cost of petrol and the state of the economy

• 8percent of Bury St Edmunds residents and 17percent of village residents said their shopping visits to the town had increased. The remaining residents said their visits had stayed at the same level.

Following these results, David has today written to Mike Dawson, Acting Chief Executive of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, offering to share the results of his survey with the Council and asking what recent surveys they have conducted of shopping habits in the town.

David said:

'As Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds, I get asked about the issue of parking in the town on a regular basis. Therefore, I decided to test public opinion on this important issue with an online survey. While the results are by no means scientific they are based on the submissions of over 100 residents which is a reasonable sample. In my opinion, a Park & Ride system for the town would be one of the most logical ways to alleviate the problems described by local people.

'I am keen to share the results of my survey with St Edmundsbury Borough Council and have written to their Acting Chief Executive, Mike Dawson, asking him what recent studies St Edmundsbury has conducted into shopping habits in Bury St Edmunds,

'I hope to meet with St Edmundsbury Borough Council on this issue of a Park & Ride system for the town in the autumn and look forward to discovering what progress can be made on this important subject.'