Hadleigh residents will have to bear the costs of incomplete road construction as part of the controversial cemetery extension, after councillors voted not to take legal action against the contractors involved.

Concerns had been raised that some of the work in Coram Street had not been carried out satisfactorily, but the contractors who had already been paid out on its £430k deal, would not be completing any further updates.

But the majority of town councillors were keen to draw a line under the episode and move forward.

The motion, proposed by Cllr Minns, read: "The council resolves that whilst the matter of the temporary road in part constructed from Coram Street to the rear of the cemetery extension has not been resolved to the full satisfaction of the council, the point has now been reached where the financial risks of a failed action and the administrative load continuing this matter places on the council and its staff outweigh any benefit that might be derived from initiating any legal action, such that the matter is now to be considered closed."

Only one councillor, Andrew Knock, voted against the motion, and asked: "Are we going to release a statement to the public that we have spent their money on something we have not received?"

But the chair Cllr Minns told Cllr Knock as that point was not on the agenda, it could not be discussed at the meeting.

Hadleigh's town council had signed an agreement with contractors to extend the cemetery by around 3.3 acres, at the tender price of £472,597.96, paid for with the help of a £500,000 fixed rate loan, approved by the Public Works Loan Board, repayable over the course of 25 years, at an interest rate of 2.79 per cent.

The new arrangement came after the project had to be re-tendered, due to the previous preferred contractor going into insolvency.

Figures released by the town council in March, 2020 showed the total project costs to date was £738,077.

A full breakdown on the costs can be found here on the council's website.

Meanwhile, councillors also agreed to support a move to impose parking restrictions in a part of Angle Street with county councillor Mick Fraser presenting the case to Suffolk Highways, and paying towards it from his county highways budget.