I T’S the age-old problem. It doesn’t matter how good an idea a massive infrastructure change could be, it’s still got to be built somewhere. And, as sure as day follows night, there will be plenty of people who don’t want it there.

This time it’s a ‘junction 3A’ onto the M40 – an extra route onto the motorway for those heading in an Oxford-bound direction, to avoid braving the rush hour horrors of Handy Cross or the aggro of traipsing to the Beaconsfield junction just to come back the other way.

The idea of another eastbound junction in the Loudwater area is a great one – I’m sure there is a good reason why one wasn’t installed at the time the rest of junction 3 was constructed, although I haven’t the foggiest idea what that is.

It would solve major rush hour headaches and alleviate a huge amount of pressure from the A40 London Road and Daws Hill Lane. And this, in turn, can’t fail to have a positive knock-on effect on the rest of the area’s traffic.

But, having said that, it’s clear to see why you wouldn’t want a new slip road on your doorstep – as a number of residents in Flackwell Heath who fear it could be built in the Spring Lane area now fear.

It’s worth pointing out this is still very much a suggestion at the moment, a long way from implementation, despite the behind-the-scenes work that has been done to assess the viability of a new M40 entry point.

So, with this as a case in point, we once again have to say how vital it is that as many people as possible have their say on the Wycombe District Local Plan that could be shaping the area’s future over the next 16 years or so. Yes, there are some unpopular suggestions (just ask many a Risborough resident, fearful of being besieged by new housing developments), but it may well be the lesser of several evils.

And, if you don’t take the chance to give Wycombe District Council your input on the scheme now, you may not get one later. The consultation period ends in a week, Friday, April 4.

So far, about 1,500 people have attended events and exhibitions to hear more about the plan and the council has received 400 detailed comments. Not bad, you may think. But with around 172,000 people living in the Wycombe District in 2011, you may wonder where the comments of the other 171,600 are.

Of course, we are lucky in the UK that it is the right of everyone living here not to take part in the consultation, just as it is their privilege not to mimic the haircut of our prime minister, should David Cameron ever try going all ‘Kim Jong-un’ on us.

But in this case, the act of having your say is worth much more to all our futures than exerting that other, all-too common right of apathetically forgetting about it now and then whingeing a few years on.

For more information, go to www.wycombe.gov.uk/newlocal plan or, to email comments, contact newlocalplan@wycombe.gov.uk or write to the Planning Policy team at Wycombe District Council.’