David Ruffley

SUFFOLK residents are considering a journey of more than 80 miles for dental treatment, it has emerged.

People living in Felixstowe have been making enquiries about joining a practice that will open in Bury St Edmunds in two weeks' time, the boss behind the new surgery said.

It comes after the EADT revealed on Monday that just one in eight dental practices in the county are accepting new NHS patients.

THE 142 police community support officers in Suffolk did not issue a single fixed penalty notice in an entire year, it has emerged.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed huge differences between forces for the numbers of fines issued by PCSOs between April 2006 and April 2007.

The officers, who can earn up to £24,500 year, were introduced by the Government in 2003 to provide community reassurance through high visibility patrols.

ONLY one in eight dental practices in Suffolk is accepting new NHS patients - despite claims access to services was greater than ever before, a new survey has found.

Huge swathes of the county have no dentists taking on new adult patients and there are warnings more practices will go private because of a perceived lack of funding.

There are currently just 12 practices in Suffolk whose books are still open to NHS patients, with eight of those either in Ipswich or Haverhill. There are none in towns such as Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe and Lowestoft.

MPs last night attacked a move by the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) to spend almost £27,000 of taxpayers' money on a policy officer - despite the fact that the body will be abolished in 2010.

EERA yesterday advertised for the post, which will see the successful applicant based at the group's headquarters in Flempton, near Bury St Edmunds.

AS Ipswich councillors celebrated their unitary success, Suffolk was left to pick up the pieces and try to assess how local government services from Lowestoft to Sudbury and Felixstowe to Mildenhall would be affected.

County council leader Jeremy Pembroke was handed the consolation of hearing Suffolk's Pathfinder bid with the other six district county districts - Babergh, Mid Suffolk, Suffolk Coastal, Forest Heath, Waveney and St Edmundsbury - had been approved by the Government.

However, he was shocked the Government had decided to break up the county.

A POPULAR Suffolk museum's bid to raise £5.3million towards a major development programme was today given the backing of one of the county's MPs.

The Museum of East Anglian Life (MEAL) is attempting to secure funding of £1.7 million from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), which will be used to transform the Stowmarket site into a major cultural and educational centre.

The museum has already submitted a funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for £2.9 million and is well on the way to raising the remaining cash.

THE number of patients treated in accident and emergency at a Suffolk hospital has increased by more than 40% in the past decade, new figures reveal.

Last year more than 45,000 people were rushed into the unit at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

This is up nearly 12,000 compared with 1997, when 32,417 people were admitted to the hospital's accident and emergency.

FRESH calls have been made for urgent safety improvements along a notorious Suffolk road after it was labelled one of the top five most dangerous in the county.

New figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the A143 - which runs from Haverhill to the Norfolk border near Diss - has claimed the lives of 15 people since 1997.

Bury St Edmunds MP David Ruffley, who requested the statistics as part of an investigation into road safety along the A143, said the new information gave even more sway to the need for improvements.

A FUNDING boost of nearly £60million will make a Suffolk college one of the region's leading institutions, it was claimed last night.

All but three of the buildings at the West Suffolk College campus in Bury St Edmunds will be knocked down as part of a wholesale redevelopment scheme earmarked to begin next year.

Last night, it emerged the college can go ahead with the scheme, which has been in the planning stage for the past two years, after the Learning and Skills Council agreed to pay £58m of the £78m project cost.

FESTIVE cheer was restored to a Suffolk town last night as its 'best ever' Christmas lights display was switched on - marking the end of a bitter row which almost saw the illuminations sold off.

It was feared last year's decorations in Bury St Edmunds would be the last thanks to the row over the cost of decking out its cobbled streets - which came to a head when the town council agreed to put the lights up for sale.