I have a Trek 7200 with a suspension fork and use panniers with it. The panniers I use are small and probably don't weigh more than 15 pounds loaded.
I have around 1000 miles on various road conditons with this setup and haven't had any problems. The front rack is just a cheap Nashbar thing I think cost around $15.
Looking at the Raleigh site, it doesn't seem the '04 M60 fork has mounting for fenders or panniers like mine does. The '03 M60 does though. The fork on my Trek is very heavy and cheap. I've thought about replacing it to save some weight, but I doubt I will since I use this bike a lot on washed out dirt roads.