AUTHORITIES in Ipswich are at each other's throats again - this time over bus lanes.Suffolk County Council has ordered the borough to reinstate full-time bus lanes in London Road and St Helen's Street in Ipswich.

AUTHORITIES in Ipswich are at each other's throats again - this time over bus lanes.

Suffolk County Council has ordered the borough to reinstate full-time bus lanes in London Road and St Helen's Street in Ipswich.

However councillors at Grafton House on the opposite side of Russell Road from the county's Grafton House headquarters feel the move is unnecessary.

The county has warned that opening bus lanes in St Helens Street and London Road to other vehicles during off-peak hours has delayed buses for the last 12 months.

It has ordered the borough to end the experiment, meaning the bus lanes cannot be used by other vehicles at any time.

County transport spokesman Guy McGregor said: "All of these routes currently suffer from congestion and it is our clearly stated intention that congestion in the town should be actively managed by providing attractive sustainable alternatives to car use, particularly on the key transport corridors.”

However the borough's transport spokesman Paul West, who is also chairman of Ipswich Buses, felt the county's concerns were over-stated.

He said: “We will have to do as they say but I'm not at all sure that the problem is as serious as they seem to be suggesting.

“We would have liked to confirm the part-time bus lanes, but we have to do as the county says.”

The county council is recommending that the part-time bus lane is confirmed on Norwich Road, meaning that other vehicles can use it between 10am and 4pm and between 7pm and 7am.