TODAY'S the day we feared we'd never see, the day when we salute the resolve of the residents of Wyre Piddle as they celebrate the go-ahead for their £5.6m bypass after a 30-year campaign.

When MP Sir Gerald Nabarro handed a petition to the Government in 1972, calling for the road, he warned villagers not to expect results immediately. Little did he suspect how patient he was asking them to be.

The impetus at that time was the fact that 360 vehicles were using Wyre Piddle as a through-route every hour - one every 10 seconds. It would seem an interminable number now so, if you've never done this, imagine what another 29 years of traffic growth has done to lives there.

After years of watching increasingly vociferous complaints fall on deaf ears, for us, the point when the case became uncontestable, rather than merely extremely urgent, was in 1997, when a tanker and car crashed at the narrowest point of the B4084.

Resident Dave Boddy's daughter Emily would normally have been playing less than 10 yards from where the car came to rest.

After five crashes in a fortnight, we wondered what it would take to convince the Government and county council to work together and lift the threat of an avoidable death.

It's only by the grace of God that yesterday's news came before a tragedy of unimaginable scale - though, of course, villagers must still survive until the bypass opens.

The lesson from Wyre Piddle's victory is that, when you believe in what you're fighting for, don't give up.

Within this battle, the behind-the-scenes activity of MP Peter Luff should not be underestimated. So, hats off to him, and to everyone else who's played their part.

He's invited everyone to a celebratory drink at The Anchor pub on Sunday. We trust he'll take his cheque book. It'll be a great way to start celebrating Christmas early.