Independent report predicts 400 more dumped cars a year across Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket

David Ruffley MP warned today that Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket faced soaring numbers of abandoned cars being dumped. An independent report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy has warned that new EU directives and Government inaction will result in a quarter of a million more cars being abandoned or torched each year- equivalent to an extra 380 cars per Parliamentary constituency. An estimated 350,000 cars, an average of 530 per constituency, are already dumped each year.

David Ruffley said: 'It is not just violent crime that is soaring across the whole of Suffolk but now our local streets are getting dirtier and more clogged up. We already knew that the number of burnt out cars across Suffolk has soared by 98.8 per cent from 1997 to 2000. But this new report predicts that the problem of abandoned cars is going to get even worse.

'European Union directives signed by Labour are to force the cost of car disposal to soar- a bill which is going to be met by car owners and council tax payers. Badly drafted regulations supposed to help the environment will end up worsening urban decay.

'Abandoned cars are hazardous for children and encourage more vandalism and crime in our neighbourhoods. I believe the whole problem of crime across Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket must be addressed- from getting more police officers on the streets to tackling smaller scale, quality of life nuisances.'

'My constituents are getting fed up with 'Police Aware' stickers on cars abandoned in Bury and on the A14. We need to change the law to give the police the powers they need to tow these wrecks away.'