GOOD comedy is all about...er...um...timing. And could there be any better/worse example of the importance of getting this single factor right than the current farce which has erupted over the £260m Oxford-Bicester-London rail link?

It was hoped that this much anticipated project could be completed within the next three years, with the first train service leaving Oxford and calling at Water Eaton, Bicester Town, High Wycombe and London Marylebone by May 2014.

But unfortunately, it now all hangs all in the balance. ‘Man plans’ it is said ‘and God laughs’, and in this instance it’s entirely understandable.

For years this much-hyped rail link has been in development, but only in the last few months has anyone stopped to wonder what effect it might have on the local wildlife.

Or more particularly, the region’s bats and great crested newts.

It may seem incredible that an engineering operation of this magnitude can so easily be brought to its feet by the passive force of the natural world, but thank goodness such checks and balances do exist to preserve our wonderful and unique countryside (and as yet, the matter is still to be resolved).

What is unforgivable however is that this specific issue, which was almost guaranteed to de-rail proceedings, if only temporarily, has been been allowed to stagnate for so long.

If the preservation of a bat and newt community had been highlighted at the start, much of the current angst over the future of the project could have been averted.