IN English common law the definition of a highway is something like “a way over which all members of the public have the right to pass and repass without hindrance”.

Sadly this is not a right currently available to the public wishing to drive the B478 from Playhatch to Sonning, a relatively minor inconvenience having major daily consequences across a massive area.

It’s a characteristic of people in this area that, unlike parts of the country where the weather’s invariably number one topic, we are more often than not preoccupied with the nature of our journey to work, school or the supermarket. But this is something else, with routine tales of 60 minutes added to regular journeys with serious consequences for lives and livelihoods.

The pollution from all those idling engines has been comfortably matched in recent days by the hot air expelled by people reinforcing the adage that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Repeated calls for patience from Oxfordshire’s much maligned Councillor David Nimmo-Smith proved their worth when he revealed plans for reopening the road to The Chronicle last night.

But whatever the short-term solution, the problem’s still cash. It is often wrongly assumed that 'road tax’, rather than general and local taxation, pays for the upkeep of roads. But Vehicle Excise Duty does what it says on the disc and goes into the Consolidated Fund, i.e. the austerity-obsessed Treasury’s piggy bank.

Anybody got The Chancellor’s number?