By Liz HearnshawCAMPAIGNERS fighting for a bypass for a traffic-choked town are to meet with officials to attempt to resolve ongoing congestion problems.

By Liz Hearnshaw

CAMPAIGNERS fighting for a bypass for a traffic-choked town are to meet with officials to attempt to resolve ongoing congestion problems.

Richard Spring, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, will meet Suffolk County Council chief executive, Mike More, along with members of the Brandon Action Group, at the beginning of next month.

Residents have been battling for the last 12 years to get a bypass, and had thought the long awaited route would be complete within the next five years.

But in 2002, they were told although the Brandon bypass was on Suffolk County Council's list, the route "was not set in stone".

However, officials are now hopeful some action may be taken as a result of the high-profile meeting, planned for April.

"What we are obviously not going to get in a hurry is this bypass," said Mr Spring. "It requires a political decision which we will not get as long as we have got a Labour and Liberal administration.

"I have asked the county council to carry out a survey of the traffic flows in Brandon. What I wanted to do is try and find out if there is a way of routing the heavy goods lorries out of the town, to see if additional arrangements to prevent the terrible congestion after 4pm.

"Brandon is the biggest settlement in Suffolk without a bypass. Congestion is completely beyond anything else, and at 4pm you may as well give up trying to drive through the town."

A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said a number of issues regarding traffic conditions in Brandon would be discussed at April's meeting, along with a potential bypass scheme.

liz.hearnshaw@eadt.co.uk