Thousands backing Jack Abbott's Northern Bypass petition

Speaking at a meeting of Suffolk County Council on Thursday, July 16, Mr Abbott said that the county could not continue with the "do nothing approach" although the cabinet member for transport at the council said that the road could cost "half a billion pounds."

According to the MP, his petition calling for the Northern Bypass was backed "more than 4,000 people and a number of high profile businesses" after ongoing traffic chaos on the major roads around Ipswich reignited the debate.

The Orwell Bridge, described as the "single point of failure" (Image: Jason Noble LDRS)

The Northern Bypass is seen as a solution to solve the traffic issues in the town which are only made worse by the "single point of failure" at the Orwell Bridge, but the last serious attempt at the road was abandoned in 2020.

Whilst speaking at the council meeting, Mr Abbott said that he was pleased that the council had decided to conduct a full report, which will be presented to cabinet in September, and had had a "constructive meeting" with the leader of Suffolk County Council Michael Hadwen.

Green councillor Andrew Stringer, the leader of the opposition said that his party did not believe that the Northern Bypass was the solution and questioned Mr Abbott over the failure to deliver the equally long-awaited rail upgrades at Ely/Haughley.

Meanwhile the Conservatives said that "a solution had to be reached" but added that every solution should be looked at before committing to one solution.

Christopher Hudson, cabinet member for transport at Suffolk County Council said that all solutions would be looked at and must be "justified financially" before a business case was submitted to the Government.