VITAL road and bridge schemes across Suffolk have received a major boost thanks to a £1.5million Government handout.Transport minister John Spellar has made £15m available for urgent road and bridge work across Britain.

VITAL road and bridge schemes across Suffolk have received a major boost thanks to a £1.5million Government handout.

Transport minister John Spellar has made £15m available for urgent road and bridge work across Britain.

As part of the funding scheme Suffolk County Council has been granted £1.5m to help complete its replacement of Sudbury's crumbling Ballingdon Bridge, which is expected to cost just under £4m.

The cash windfall means part of the money the authority would have spent on Ballingdon Bridge can now be ploughed into other vital schemes across the county.

Some of the first projects to benefit from the spare cash available include rail bridge improvement projects in Westley, near Bury St Edmunds, and Wickham Market, along with much needed work on the Mendham Bridge on the Suffolk/Norfolk border.

County roads and bridges manager, Andrew Guttridge, said: "This cash is a great boost and will allow us to put money into other schemes around the county quicker than we had anticipated.

"Ballingdon Bridge has been our priority and we had the money to pay for it, but without this money it would have affected our position on other projects.

"Although the £1.5m will be spent directly on Ballingdon, it will take the pressure off our budget and allows us to direct funds to other projects.

"We will now put the money towards other much needed road and bridge strengthening schemes."