A £15 million relief road for Stowmarket has been given the go-ahead despite environmental concerns.Suffolk county councillors agreed to give planning permission for the road, designed to ease pressure on the eastern side of Stowmarket.

A £15 million relief road for Stowmarket has been given the go-ahead despite environmental concerns.

Suffolk county councillors agreed to give planning permission for the road, designed to ease pressure on the eastern side of Stowmarket.

About one mile of single carriageway will now be built from Stowmarket's inner relief road, the A1308 Gipping Way near the junction with Milton Road East, to the existing B1115 Stowupland Road near the bridge over the A14.

The £15m scheme will include a bridge over the main railway line and the River Gipping.

David Palk, the county council's development manager, said: "This is an important project and will reduce queuing and congestion on the route leading to the level crossing.

"There will be some limited impact on nature conservation, but the road scheme has been designed to minimise this.''

Yesterday councillors were told Mid Suffolk District Council had concerns about noise generated during construction, but did not object in principle.

Ron Snell, one of the county councillors for Stowmarket, said he was happy to see the road built in the town and backed its approval.

The relief road will be welcomed by motorists who face hold-ups at the town's level crossings and was supported by both Stowmarket Town and Stowupland Parish Councils.

But English Nature had concerns that about 40 per cent of a reed bed area would be lost and an area of river bank inhabited by water voles would also be destroyed if the development went ahead.

A handful of residents also complained the road would harm their quiet rural setting, creating more noise, and some businesses objected too.