The South East England Regional Assembly commissioned another report into the Bicester to Winchester road, amid fears that freight traffic is going through the roof.

The Guildford-based organisation says housebuilding plans for Oxford, Didcot, Newbury and Winchester, will give the road "significant operational difficulties" by 2026.

The assembly has already said it would like to use road tolls to ease congestion, creating alarm in Newbury, where it is feared lorries will simply switch to the A339 to save on haulage overheads.

At least three studies on the A34 have been produced in recent years, discussing issues as diverse as park-and-ride, speed cameras, crawler lanes, and shifting the freight from Southampton onto a railway to the Midlands.

However, the assembly is also mindful of recent study by West Berkshire Council on the impact of lorries thundering along country lanes, and is keen to back a switch to rail.