It is 'bypass or bust' for Ipswich, says MP

Labour's MP for Ipswich has blamed "years of indecision" by Suffolk Conservatives for the lack of alternative route when the Orwell Bridge shuts, claiming it was now "bypass or bust".

The A14 bridge is due to undergo seven weeks of maintenance works with overnight closures. When shut, traffic flows through central Ipswich as there is no alternative highway.

Jack Abbott said "barely a week goes by where the Orwell Bridge, wider A14 and the road networks in and around don't grind to a halt", adding there was a lack of leadership around the issue.

Conservative-run Suffolk County Council has refused to comment. In 2020, it said a plan to build a new bypass should not go ahead and it was ditched.

Andrew Stringer, leader of the Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent Group at the county council, said: "There's no government funding for this road. It would have to be funded by new homes or industry."

More than 60,000 vehicles cross the 1km (0.6-mile) Orwell Bridge every day, with much of it going to or from the Port of Felixstowe.

Business leaders have claimed it costs £1m a day when the bridge closes.

Abbott said: "The blame for this damaging situation lies squarely at the feet of the Suffolk Conservatives, who have repeatedly advocated for a 'do nothing' approach. People in positions of leadership, but showing none.

"The choice is clear - it is bypass or bust. I have made my choice; I will continue to campaign for this critical piece of infrastructure. It is time the Suffolk Conservatives make theirs."

Previous plans to build a multimillion-pound northern bypass were abandoned five years ago.

The road would have linked the A14, A140 and the A12, and 15,000 homes would have been built to get government funding.

However, there was significant local opposition, with 500 people marching to the council's headquarters to hand in a 4,500-signature petition against the proposals.

Stringer told the BBC: "We can see why Labour would seek to build a northern bypass as it would solve a lot of their problems - problems with delivering new homes in Ipswich. It would give them a new boundary for the town to head towards."

The Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Patrick Spencer, has also been opposed to a northern bypass.

"I appreciate Jack's time to kind of layout and the economic case for it, but it's rumbled on for decades because it keeps getting rejected," he said.

"The reason it keeps getting rejected is because people don't want to see it."

Spencer said people did not want "large chunks of countryside" altered and rather wanted to see improvements made to the A14 generally, to the Copdock Interchange and for potholes to be tackled.

"I understand why Jack wants to do this and he is doing a very good job standing up for Ipswich," he continued.

"But my responsibility is to the people I represent and when I've spoken to them they do not want to see a northern bypass and they want to see other things instead."

The saga of whether to build a northern bypass for Ipswich or find another alternative has been running for decades in Suffolk, and it has always been controversial.

It pits whoever the MP in the town is, regardless of party, against the surrounding constituencies, whose residents do not want to see a road built through their countryside and the housing which would inevitably come with it.

Whether this latest push will be different will be down to funding, and with a spending review on the horizon, a new road in Suffolk may not be at the top of the list.

Work to replace the joints on the Orwell Bridge is due to begin next month.

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