Campaigners call for more protestors

RESIDENTS campaigning to stop road alterations at Combs Ford are today urging more protestors to stand up and be heard.

The Better Way Forward Group – leading the opposition to a £120,000 Suffolk County Council project – are asking people to respond to a leaflet drop before the deadline on Friday.

It claims the county council's plans will cause congestion and pollution and says its campaign will be strengthened if more people speak up.

It is the second time 3,500 have been distributed in the area since the plans were announced. The first time 1,704 of the 1,725 responses said they were against the scheme.

Bob Paton, a member of the group and the chairman of Combs Parish Council, said: "We can't find any evidence to support Suffolk County Council's claims that this is a much needed improvement.

"We want to demonstrate that there's no widespread support, and we are not against improving safety, but these particular road changes."

Last month the protestors arranged for a bus to be driven along the proposed route to prove the changes would cause chaos.

The county council's plans include reversing the one-way system, which partly circles the Esso garage, narrowing Needham Road, reducing a section of Needham Road to one lane, replacing the two-way carriageway on Ipswich Road to a single, one-way road and adding a combined cycle and footpath.

The county council has now agreed to look again at its proposals south of Boulters Bridge.

However, it says a petition from The Better Way Forward Group did not demonstrate opposition to changes north of the bridge, and intends to plough on.

Do you think the proposals are a good idea? Or will they cause more trouble than they solve? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk