THOSE familiar with the long-running wrangles over road improvements around Witney may greet the news of a possible breakthrough in the plan to create a full interchange on the A40 at Shores Green with scepticism.

In the wake of the collapse of the Cogges Link Road scheme, creating a four-way junction at Shores Green has been seen as a key element in tackling Witney’s traffic problems, but disputes between landowners and Oxfordshire County Council have held up progress.

Last week, we said that the town could not afford more delays to this scheme, so we welcome the news that talks are under way over the acquisition of a key piece of land, which had previously been seen as a stumbling block.

We hope that the landowners and the county council can now move quickly to achieve agreements satisfactory to all parties to end the deadlock that has bedevilled the proposal and end the possibility of another bruising inquiry over compulsory purchases of land.

This offers the prospect of a full interchange at Shores Green and the new A40 roundabout and connection to Downs Road and the 1,000-home Witney West development both being completed sooner rather than later.

These would offer drivers routes across the town that avoid the congested Bridge Street bottleneck and build on the welcome improvements being made at the junction of Ducklington Lane and Station Lane.