Northern Bypass to be part of council’s first meeting after election
Suffolk County Council’s annual general meeting is being held next week
Last updated 17th May 2026
Renewed calls for a northern bypass around Ipswich will be discussed for the first time since the elections.
New Labour councillors are set to bring a motion pushing for work on the relief route to start immediately during Suffolk County Council’s annual general meeting next week.
It is the first time the bypass will be discussed since the local elections last Thursday, which saw Reform UK take control of the authority.
Cllr Martin Cook, who was elected to represent Rushmere, is calling on the council to reaffirm its commitment to the project.
Next week’s debate will be the latest in a winding saga, which saw the project abandoned in 2020 due to a lack of support for the house-building required to unlock Government funding.
But supporters have since continued to argue the project is the only way to ease congestion, particularly when the Orwell Bridge is forced to close, causing traffic chaos.
If next week’s motion wins support, councillors will be required to set a timetable by September 2026 to submit a fresh business case to the Government.
In 2019, funding was reliant on 15,000 new homes being built over and above the numbers local authorities had allocated for in their local plans.
The requirements for the project to be delivered now are not known.
Although the bypass received cross-party support in July, when the project was last discussed, the vote could go either way with Reform now at the helm.
Cllrs Christopher Hudson and Martin Robinson, who formed the Reform Group at the time, objected and abstained respectively last time around.
Meanwhile, Cllrs Philip Faircloth-Mutton and Patti Mulcahy, who were then Conservatives but later defected, voted in favour, painting a mixed picture of the party’s views on the project.
Ahead of the elections, Reform said it was committed to keeping all options on the table to find a long-term solution, but did not express direct support for the bypass.
Next week’s motion, however, commits the council to taking proactive steps to see the project finally delivered rather than simply keeping it in mind.